SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT IN ATTORNEY GENERAL OF FEDERATION v ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ABIA STATE AND ORS IN 2024: THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY

Abstract

The Supreme Court's 2024 judgment in Attorney General of the Federation and Attorney General of Abia State granted financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria. This landmark decision reinforced Section 7(1) of the Constitution, recognizing local governments as the third tier of government. The judgment has significant implications for enhanced local governance, improved service delivery, and reduced dependence on state governments. Implementation of the judgment is expected to promote greater autonomy and self-sufficiency for local governments. This study examines the Supreme Court's 2024 judgment on local government autonomy in Nigeria, aiming to understand its implications for local governance and service delivery using the doctrinal methodology, a critical analysis of the Supreme Court judgment, relevant constitutional provisions, and existing literature on local government autonomy in Nigeria was utilized in the research. The research reveals that the Supreme Court judgment granted financial autonomy to local governments, reinforcing Section 7(1) of the Constitution. The judgment has significant implications for enhanced local governance, improved service delivery, and reduced dependence on state governments. The paper concluded that the Supreme Court judgment is a landmark decision that promotes local government autonomy and self-sufficiency. However, effective implementation of the judgment requires collaboration between federal, state, and local governments and therefore makes recommendations that to ensure the successful implementation of the judgment, there is need to establish an Inter-Ministerial Committee to oversee the implementation process, provide training and capacity-building programs for local government officials; and conduct regular monitoring and evaluation to assess the impact of the judgment on local governance and service delivery.