THOSE referring to local government as the third tier of
government get it wrong, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) said
on Sunday.
The NGF said the local government is not recognised by the 1999
Constitution as a tier of government.
It said only the federal and state governments are
recognised.
NGF chairman and Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi said the
guidelines by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on
the financial autonomy for local government were issued by an
agency oblivious of the provisions of the constitution.
Fayemi said only a constitution amendment can change the status
quo.
He said any Constitution review in that direction will also
require the approval by two-thirds of the 36 Houses of
Assembly.
Fayemi told reporters in Lagos that the rift over the NFIU’s
proposals and the controversy over government autonomy had shifted
to the court, adding that parties in the dispute cannot take
further steps outside the constitution.
Rejecting the unconstitutional description of local council as a
third tier, he said: “As far as we are concerned, the position of
the NGF on the issue is the position of the law.
“There is no law that has been passed in the country on local
government autonomy. There have been several attempts, but it has
never gotten 24 states Houses of Assembly out of the 36 in the
country to make it happen.”
Fayemi maintained that Nigeria is a two-tier federation,
contrary to the erroneous belief in some quarters.
He said: “Nigeria is not a three-tier federation; the talks
about Nigeria being a three-tier federation is a distortion; it is
just an aberration that we even have to go to Abuja to get approval
on local governments.
“If you want to create 200 local governments, it is your
business because you and your people in your state should figure it
out. It should not be the business of Abuja because that for me is
surreptitious unitarism.
“You cannot go behind to do what the constitution does not allow
you to do and that was what informed our position at the NGF over
the ridiculous instruction to banks.
“You know that you cannot confront us; you are now going to
bankers. What is the business of the banks with the accounts
maintained by local government as long as the accounts are funded
and the proper persons run the accounts?
“Besides that, what is the business of the NFIU on local
government funds? When you read the NFIU law, NFIU monitors what is
going on in the banking system, internationally and locally and if
you have a specific case of money laundering, please bring it up.
You cannot have a general rule to address a unique problem.
“You can’t because you want to fight money laundering; you now
say that states and local governments cannot run joint accounts,
which is in the constitution of Nigeria. Section 162 and we have a
case pending in court on the issue.”