Chairman of the Senate Committee on Services, Sunday Steve Karimi, has said the National Assembly will support President Bola Tinubu in enforcing financial autonomy for local governments and recovering trillions of naira allegedly diverted by state governments over the years.
Karimi, who represents Kogi West Senatorial District, said the legislature is ready to enact laws to compel strict compliance with the Supreme Court judgment of July 25, 2024, which ordered the direct release of federal allocations to Nigeria’s 774 local government councils.
Speaking while hosting his constituents during the yuletide break, the senator recalled that the apex court ruled state governors’ control of local government funds unconstitutional and declared caretaker committees illegal, stressing that the judgment was aimed at strengthening grassroots democracy and improving service delivery at the local level.
Despite the clarity of the ruling, Karimi said some governors have continued to disregard it, prompting President Tinubu to warn, during a recent National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC), that he may issue an Executive Order to enforce compliance.
“The National Assembly will not stand by while Supreme Court judgments are treated with contempt,” Karimi said. “We will back the President with relevant legislation, including retroactive measures, to track, recover and punish the looting of local government funds.”
The senator alleged that trillions of naira meant for grassroots development have been siphoned by some state governments and their networks, even as the Tinubu administration has made unprecedented resources available to states and councils.
Karimi linked the failure of local governments to function effectively to worsening insecurity across parts of the country, citing recent remarks by the Chief of Defence Staff, who warned that the absence of functional councils has created vast ungoverned spaces exploited by criminals and terrorists.
According to him, in some states local government allocations are transferred into council accounts only to be diverted through fictitious projects and voucher racketeering schemes, with council chairmen and officials allegedly coerced into approving fraudulent payments running into billions of naira monthly.
He said the practice has rendered many councils incapable of providing basic services to the people, warning that governors and other actors undermining grassroots development would be held accountable once the National Assembly completes the necessary legal framework.
“This level of institutionalised theft has no place in a 21st-century democracy,” Karimi said.
Karimi: NASS to Support Tinubu Recover Trillions Diverted From LG Funds
