See When Direct Payment of Allocation to Local Governments Set to Start – NULGE
Ambali Olatunji, President of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), has announced that the Federal Government will initiate direct payments of allocations to local government accounts by the end of October.
In an interview with Saturday PUNCH, Olatunji emphasized that the full implementation of financial autonomy for local governments is expected to begin this month.
This development follows a Supreme Court ruling in July, which mandated that the Federal Government must directly disburse funds to local government councils from the federation account. Justice Emmanuel Agim stated in the ruling that it is unconstitutional for state governors to withhold these funds.
The court also highlighted that only democratically elected local government councils are valid, dismissing the authority of state governments to appoint caretaker committees.
In response to the ruling, governors who were initially opposed requested a three-month period to organize elections for their councils, which concluded in September.
Olatunji expressed hope that this direct funding would enhance local government operations and enable councils to better serve their communities. He noted, “Starting October 11, financial autonomy for local governments will be fully implemented. By the end of October, we anticipate that local government allocations will be directly credited to council accounts nationwide.”
Furthermore, Olatunji revealed that NULGE has presented a position paper to the Federal Government’s technical committee on how local councils should operate under this new financial structure. He urged both federal and state authorities to implement safeguards to prevent misappropriation of these funds by coun
cil officials.
