LP lawmakers accuse Soludo of trying to ‘circumvent’ local government autonomy

The party caucus at the National Assembly made the accusation on Thursday at a press briefing in Abuja.

The Labour Party (LP) caucus in the National Assembly has accused Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State of trying to “circumvent” the Supreme Court’s ruling on local government autonomy.

The caucus, led by LP senator Tony Nwoye from Anambra, said this at a news conference in Abuja on Thursday.

Mr Nwoye expressed displeasure over ongoing moves by the governor to enact State and Local Government Joint Account law.

He said that such a move was aimed at circumventing the landmark Supreme Court judgment on financial autonomy for local government.

He tasked the Speaker and members of the Anambra House of Assembly with toeing the path of honour by stopping forthwith further consideration of the “obnoxious” executive bill for posterity’s sake.

Other federal lawmakers, who spoke in turns, argued that the provisions of the proposed bill titled ‘Anambra State Local Government Administration Law, 2024’ were against the judgment of the Supreme Court.

The aggrieved LP lawmakers specifically frowned at the provisions of Clauses 13, 14, and 20, among others, with a special focus on the ‘State, Joint Local Government Account’.

This includes Local Government Consolidated Account, Consolidated Account Management Committee, and Local Government Security Trust Account.

Also included was the local government security trust account committee, among other issues.

According to Mr Nwoye, the controversial clause 13(1) stipulates that the state shall maintain a special account called the State Joint Local Government Account.

“And shall pay into it all allocations from the Federation to the local governments of the state.

“The State shall distribute the funds due to the local governments as provided in subsection (1) of section 11, on such terms and in such manner as prescribed by the State House of Assembly,” he said.

The lawmakers also protested against the provisions of clause 14 on ‘Local Government Consolidated Account.

According to Mr Nwoye, this stipulates that a local government consolidated account shall be established and managed on behalf of the local government areas in the state.

“The consolidated account shall be administered for the uniform provision of common services across all the local government areas in the state, among others”.

Mr Nwoye also decried the security situation across the state and questioned the rationale behind the proposed 20 per cent deduction from the federal allocation to local government, as proposed in the bill.

(NAN)