LG autonomy, state police: Stakeholders put governors on the spot

Kunle Oderemi

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

The frenetic bid in the last 48 hours to constitutionalise the creation of state police by the Presidency and the National Assembly, has thrown up a number of issues. Most political discussions have centered on expected form of synergy between the federal and state police, security votes being enjoyed by governors and funding under the eventual arrangement on policing in the country.

Contents

• ALSO READ: Senate passes state police bill
• The landmark judgment
• LGA allocations since 2024
• LG structures
• How LG autonomy would have reduced insecurity — Adeniran
• LG autonomy will curtail insecurity if — Adegboye
• Citizens’ wellbeing, welfare components of security — Ex-Kogi Speaker
• Functional LG will create safer, more secure society — Umar
• LG best positioned to monitor security — Oladele

But a core issue that has been thrown up is what some prominent stakeholders consider as the ignominy and tardiness that characterised the approach by many of governors towards the Supreme Court judgment that granted autonomy to the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country in July 2024. The position of most of the stakeholders is that had the governors faithfully implemented the judgment of the apex court, Nigerians would not be caught in the web of uncertainty and fear occasioned by the tide of insurgency and terrorism ravaging the country. Funds meant for all the local governments listed in the 1999 Constitution would have been deployed by the third-tier of government in tackling the root causes of insecurity.

Lately, terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and abductors have intensified attacks on soft targets in rural areas with not just peasant farmers but also school children and their teachers as major victims. Unfortunately, many of the communities lack basic infrastructure, including modern communication networks and good roads and presence of security personnel, making prompt interventions cumbersome and ineffectual.

The dearth of those basic infrastructure, modern technology, physical development and good governance at the closest tier of government to the grassroots is a sharp contrast to huge disbursements going to the 774 local governments across the states monthly.

ALSO READ: Senate passes state police bill

Under the existing federal structure, all the major organs of government, including judiciary, executive and parliament are guaranteed funding to ensure a peaceful society. Sadly, the LGAs have been increasingly incapacitated, emasculated and short-changed by the states’ refusal to allow direct funding of LGAs as provided in the constitution. The good intention of the framers of the 1999 Constitution on the provision of the Local Government Joint Account Committee (JAC) has been consistently subverted and abused with the disbursements of the funds based on the whims and caprices of state governors.

The landmark judgment

On July 11, 2024, the Supreme Court expressly declared that the allocations for all LGAs from the Federal Allocation Account should be paid directly to each of them, but with a proviso: existence of a democratically elected executive. The court’s unanimous judgment (suit SC/CV/343/2024) included that henceforth, the LGAs receive statutory allocations directly from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). The court barred state governments from dissolving democratically elected local government councils and replacing them with appointed caretaker committees. According to the judgment, councils without democratically elected officials will not receive allocations from the federation account.

But a welter of issues based on suits filed by vested interests trailed the implementation. For instance, the judgment was challenged by the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON). It marked a dramatic twist to issues thrown up by the unfavourable disposition of the governors to the judgment.

In the suit filed at the Federal High Court (FHC/ABJ/CS/353/2025), ALGON sought to halt the disbursement of funds without its approval while demanding direct representation at FAAC meetings. Yet, many civil society groups and political parties sustained their demand that the judgment should be implemented. The apex court had exercised its power by interpreting Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution. It described the payment of the allocations to the Joint State and Local Government Account as gross misconduct and upbraided the governors for dissolving democratically elected councils and setting up caretaker committees.

LGA allocations since 2024

According to official data, all the 774 LGAs got more than N1.69 trillion in the first half of the year alone in 2024. It was a 47% increase in allocations compared to 2023.

A breakdown of the figure showed that the total allocation for January stood at N288.93 billion; February: N278.04 billion; March: N267.15 billion; April: N288.69 billion; May: N293.82 billion; June: N282.48 billion (pre-Supreme Court ruling); July: N343.70 billion; August: N306.53 billion; and December: N361.70 billion. The total for the whole year stood at N3.85 trillion.

In 2025, the overall cumulative allocation of N4.98 trillion went to the LGAs, which represented a 29.3% increase compared to the N3.85 trillion disbursed in the previous year. Part of it included: March: N387.0 billion; May: N406.6 billion; August: N534.2 billion; September: N529.9 billion; October: N505.8 billion; November: N445.2 billion and December: N446.0 billion.

For the first five months of 2026, all the three tiers of government shared a total of N10.45 trillion from the FAAC, with the Federal Government receiving N3.72 trillion, states got N3.56 trillion, and the 774 LGAs received N2.51 trillion.

LG structures

The leadership pyramid at the local government clearly underscores that the tier of government is designed to provide security architecture, with the local government chairman as the overall boss. He is the chief security officer of his LG, which comprises several wards, and has both administrative and security teams in the discharge of his duty.

Each council has a parliament led by a leader of the legislative assembly with councillors elected at different wards as members. They have the mandate to be the ears and eyes of the people in their areas and political units. Thus, a councillor is expected to understand all major happenings in his constituency concerning the security of lives and property, as well as brief the legislature on what he discovered and considers as strange movements during the sitting of the parliament every week.

He also has the privilege of getting useful information, especially on security matters, through regular interface with the people of his wards and conveying it to the legislature. Decisions of the unicameral legislature will be communicated to the LG chairman through the leader for proper, appropriate, and procedural actions.

The nexus of the activities also involves security, especially in the areas of policing, intelligence gathering and community security. While the Nigeria Police Force has formations at each local government headquarters and posts in certain areas, the Department of State Service (DSS) and the NSCDC have offices in the LGAs. Similarly, the presence of the men and officers of such federal agencies like the Immigration Service and the Nigerian Customs Service are discernible across the local government, especially in border towns to stave off threats to the national economy and sovereignty of Nigeria.

The complementary role of a functional council in guaranteeing security of lives and property is also underscored by LG bosses’ interface with traditional rulers. They equally draw varying sums of funds from the local government to mark traditional festivals. The hierarchy of leadership under the traditional institution cuts across urban areas, cities, towns, villages and hamlets. Each stratum is assigned and imbued with mandate and power to assert.

In other words, a first-class traditional ruler devolves power to the unit heads who, in turn, are required to exercise certain enforceable rights, privileges, powers, and influence, and serve as the veritable source of intelligence-driven information concerning communal issues, his subjects and visitors within his geographic jurisdiction. The structure at the local government level, therefore, is configured to be all-inclusive in securing the people and serving as grassroots intelligence gathering machinery.

How LG autonomy would have reduced insecurity — Adeniran

Like most other stakeholders, a former Minister and ambassador, Professor Tunde Adeniran agreed that the LGAs remain dysfunctional because of the poor quality of leadership arising from the lack of autonomy for the councils. He said functional LGAs would have minimised the worsening insecurity ravaging the country.

“Yes, it could have reduced it. This is on the assumption that the affairs of such Local Government Areas would be managed by mature, competent experienced and highly patriotic men and women of integrity who understand the nature and dimensions of policies and governance,” he said.

“For instance, the concept of LGAs as a third tier of government was based on the assumption that the chairmen/persons at that level would be drawn from the pool of accomplished professionals, retired principals of schools, permanent secretaries and successful businessmen of great credibility. And those to serve as councillors were expected to be educated, community-oriented and with values to governance at the Local Government level. LGAs were not designed to be managed by people who know close to nothing about governance and see their positions as deserved political patronage whose main responsibility is allocation collection for their governors,” he added.

Nonetheless, Professor Adeniran said there are a few exceptions among the state chief executives who allow the LGAs to breathe. His words:

“Thank God that a few governors understand the status and essence of the LGAs, they allow them to be properly constituted with freedom to manage their resources. This has resulted in people-oriented programmes, progress, development and relative peace in the LGAs.”

LG autonomy will curtail insecurity if — Adegboye

Similarly, a legal practitioner and women’s rights advocate, Mrs Yetunde Adegboye, said there is a nexus between success and quality of leadership, identifying corruption as the bane of society.

She said: “The answer ordinarily should be a yes if a functional LG would have curtailed the level of insecurity. But, it may not be so in all the local governments because the success of any actions of government depends largely on the leadership of that arm of government. How committed to the welfare and protection of the people by leadership is very important.

“Corruption has also eaten deep into society. The case of Dasuki readily comes to mind, the then government, through Dasuki, squandered the money allocated for the acquisition of weapons for fight against insecurity.”

Citizens’ wellbeing, welfare components of security — Ex-Kogi Speaker

A former Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Honourable Abdullahi Bello, PhD, lamented the stranglehold of governors on LGAs thereby creating multiple crises for the country, especially at the grassroots.

“Yes, a functional and financially autonomous local government system can help in the fight against insecurity in Nigeria if certain fundamental steps are taken, and this includes the quality of those elected to take charge of the local government itself.”

According to the one-time acting governor of Kogi, “Local governments with independence and financial autonomy will be dormant without experienced and competent mature elected men and women to run their affairs. For instance, some local governments in my part of the country were actively in control of trashing any emerging security issues around 1976. Other developments such as rural roads, shopping malls, reconstruction of LG secretariats and many more were recorded by the elected LG officials in some instances between 1999 and 2011 in my part of Kogi State.

“The local government was at the forefront of ensuring stability and peace during this period, but strangely, today the story is completely different,” he said.

Bello said that many current LG chairmen, vice chairmen and councillors are incompetent because they were selected stooges of state governors.

“These people assume office after caricature local government elections, leaving governance at this level to be completely dead. The governors have weakened the local government using local government election commissions, and this of course raises concerns about the state police that is now being debated nationally,” he said.

“Finally, security is not all about providing men and women with adequate training and or arming them with weapons. Welfare and wellbeing of the citizens are critical components of security, and this is what financially autonomous local governments are expected to deliver. That is, the basic needs of the people must always be at the top of the governance chart.”

Functional LG will create safer, more secure society — Umar

Former Vice President Namadi Sambo’s spokesman and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Umar Sani also shared the position of the other personalities.

In his words, “A fully functioning, financially independent local government system can significantly reduce terrorism, banditry, and other forms of insurgency by addressing their underlying causes. With sufficient resources and true autonomy, local governments would be better equipped to generate employment opportunities for the large number of unemployed youths who are often drawn into criminal activities.

“Such local governments could invest in essential infrastructure, including healthcare centres, schools, agricultural hubs, skill development centres, and paved rural roads that support commerce and economic growth. Improved infrastructure would boost local economies and improve residents’ quality of life.”

He added: “Additionally, access to small and medium-sized loans would foster the growth of small and medium enterprises, leading to sustainable jobs and encouraging entrepreneurship. Meaningful employment would not only increase household incomes but also lessen the lure of criminal behaviour.

“Moreover, local government employees would benefit from timely payment of salaries, allowances, and other perks, which would boost morale and productivity. A more efficient and responsive local government system would enhance community development, reduce poverty, curb youth unrest, and ultimately create a safer and more secure society.”

Another stakeholder and former member of the National Assembly, Senator Kola Balogun, equally underscored the strategic place of LGAs in security of lives and property since every crime is local.

He stated: “There is no question about it. All crimes are local. The Oriire school children and teachers’ abduction would not have been easy to perpetrate without the complicity of the locals. If the local government administration is autonomous and well-funded, their primary responsibility will be to secure the lives and property of the people.

“They will be in a position to ensure that their security architecture is fully functional, and this includes the intelligence to complement the physical security infrastructure. Yes, a functional financially autonomous local government administration would have reduced terrorism and other forms of insecurity ravaging the country.”

LG best positioned to monitor security — Oladele

A former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Bosun Oladele noted that LG remains the grassroots level, adding:

“Every situation of insecurity is local, when you look at how and where it happens and the fact that it affects people within a certain area. The local governments are best positioned to monitor movement, happenings and activities within their jurisdiction because that’s where they operate. It is therefore certain that a financially autonomous local government will have enough to deploy to securing the lives and properties of the people within their jurisdiction and that will enhance their functionality and effectiveness.

“I am aware that many local governments rely more on local security measures such as funding of vigilante groups and local hunters to secure their territories from criminals and bandits. One can only imagine what will happen if governments at the local levels have more funds at their disposal, more investments will be made on security and there will be improved economic activities that will keep citizens gainfully employed. This will reduce banditry and other criminal activities in the long run,” he said.

However, a legal practitioner and voter awareness advocate, Comrade Wale Ogunade, said that the fundamental issues confronting the country go beyond LG autonomy, but largely on the existing federal structure.

His words: “No, a functional financially autonomous local government cannot reduce and eliminate terrorism and other forms of insecurity, because the local government as an institution as created by virtue of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution is not empowered to carry out security matters. Thus, whatever security activities carried out by the local government is just supportive.

“In this supportive role, the local government is to provide grassroots support particularly in the area of information and logistics to the state and Federal Government to combat crime and criminal activities.

“To me, this is an anomaly, because the local government is nearest to the people, it is the first point of contact with government and should be given the power and resources to nip insecurity in the bud. Unfortunately, this is a constitutional issue and I propose that this matter be given serious attention, because security issues and breaches stem from the local level.”

The Minority Leader of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003, Honourable Wunmi Bewaji, also said LG autonomy is not the silver bullet to solve our security challenges, and that more money for LGAs will not solve anything.

He said: “The problem we face is far more serious and fundamental, which is, a faulty, damaged, dubious and dysfunctional federalism. Our insecurity and terrorism feed from that.

“No state police can fix that either. If we like, we can continue to wallow in self-delusion. When we are done deceiving ourselves, we will all sit down and restructure the country. Anything short of that is a waste of time.”

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