JomoGbomo2:



This Punch Editorial is the worst Political Job ever, since when did Journalists/editors start interpreting our constitution for us a Nation. It’s so obvious a governor or former governor is behind this Op-ed disguised as Constitutional interpretation by a group of journalists.

This whole editorial is arguing for Federalism (which is not bad) instead of interpreting the constitution itself.

The mere fact that the LG council men may divert the money for personal use and not pay teachers does not make the judgment wrong, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE GOVERNORS ARE CURRENTLY DOING.

IMO, the Supreme Court should sue Punch editorial board for defamation

FreeStuffsNG:
The State and Local Government Joint Account was created because council bosses were looting funds and not paying primary school teachers. Since that account was created, primary school teachers are no longer owed salaries. Sadly, paying the monthly allocation directly to the councils would not stop the diversion of council funds.

States should stop the illegal practice of dissolving elected councils and appointing caretaker committees. Local elections should be free, fair, and credible to ensure accountability.

The two paragraphs above are part of the inconsistencies in the Punch Editorial. In one breadth it blamed the LGs for owing primary school teachers and claimed that the problem was solved with the State-LGAs joint account while in another breadth it admitted that there is the problem of illegal dissolution of democratically elected LGA administration and replacement with caretaker committees funded from the joint account.

Another inconsistency is boxing federalism into a certain mould as if the independence of LGAs suddenly strips away the operation of true federalism. India and Brazil are bad examples because of their caste system against certain people and religions in their countries. The central government of Brazil is taking over indigenous lands by fiat while India's democracy doesn't pretend that it's a government of the Hindus by the Hindus for the Hindus so much that the central government can demolish Mosques and build Hindu temple to replace the Mosques. Which kind of federalism gives central government the authority to impose religion on a LG? That's no federalism and bad of the Punch to cite both Brazil and India.

The Supreme Court is in order by insisting that the LGAs democratically elected leaders can never be effective unless they enjoy financial autonomy. The constitution never denied or affirmed the LGAs financial autonomy so the SC is not wrong by recognizing that the same independence the federating States could exercise is because of their financial autonomy and same privilege should be extended to LGAs.

Primary School teachers were equally indicted too when it was discovered that many of them were always absent from work and many barely qualified to teach. That's the problem of TRCN that should ensure that only professional teachers in its national register are recruited , it's not entirely the fault of the LGAs. If the payment of primary school teachers will be a problem then their salaries should be deducted from source so that no LG executive will tamper with their salaries. The rest should be monitored by EFCC and NFIU. If possible build special courts to quickly prosecute and severely punish any corrupt LG official and/or traditional institution Head.

That state-LG joint account arrangement is nothing more than a piggy bank for some state Governors and that's the weapon they use to remove democratically elected LG executives and even strip the traditional institutions of funds and render them impotent ,so much that insecurity has taken over and some Community Heads and royal authorities are at the mercy of rich bandits,
cultists and criminals who can easily buy their loyalty by placing them on their payroll with the illicit funds from their crimes. In Edo state, there's already complaint by the Gov that the Oba is using cultists to collect ishakole to run its operation when it should be funded by the LGAs and not hiring alleged cultists he is now blaming for the insecurity in Benin.

May God bless Nigeria for ever! Check my signature for free stuffs!

FreeStuffsNG:
The State and Local Government Joint Account was created because council bosses were looting funds and not paying primary school teachers. Since that account was created, primary school teachers are no longer owed salaries. Sadly, paying the monthly allocation directly to the councils would not stop the diversion of council funds.

States should stop the illegal practice of dissolving elected councils and appointing caretaker committees. Local elections should be free, fair, and credible to ensure accountability.

The two paragraphs above are part of the inconsistencies in the Punch Editorial. In one breadth it blamed the LGs for owing primary school teachers and claimed that the problem was solved with the State-LGAs joint account while in another breadth it admitted that there is the problem of illegal dissolution of democratically elected LGA administration and replacement with caretaker committees funded from the joint account.

Another inconsistency is boxing federalism into a certain mould as if the independence of LGAs suddenly strips away the operation of true federalism. India and Brazil are bad examples because of their caste system against certain people and religions in their countries. The central government of Brazil is taking over indigenous lands by fiat while India's democracy doesn't pretend that it's a government of the Hindus by the Hindus for the Hindus so much that the central government can demolish Mosques and build Hindu temple to replace the Mosques. Which kind of federalism gives central government the authority to impose religion on a LG? That's no federalism and bad of the Punch to cite both Brazil and India.

The Supreme Court is in order by insisting that the LGAs democratically elected leaders can never be effective unless they enjoy financial autonomy. The constitution never denied or affirmed the LGAs financial autonomy so the SC is not wrong by recognizing that the same independence the federating States could exercise is because of their financial autonomy and same privilege should be extended to LGAs.

Primary School teachers were equally indicted too when it was discovered that many of them were always absent from work and many barely qualified to teach. That's the problem of TRCN that should ensure that only professional teachers in its national register are recruited , it's not entirely the fault of the LGAs. If the payment of primary school teachers will be a problem then their salaries should be deducted from source so that no LG executive will tamper with their salaries. The rest should be monitored by EFCC and NFIU. If possible build special courts to quickly prosecute and severely punish any corrupt LG official and/or traditional institution Head.

That state-LG joint account arrangement is nothing more than a piggy bank for some state Governors and that's the weapon they use to remove democratically elected LG executives and even strip the traditional institutions of funds and render them impotent ,so much that insecurity has taken over and some Community Heads and royal authorities are at the mercy of rich bandits,
cultists and criminals who can easily buy their loyalty by placing them on their payroll with the illicit funds from their crimes. In Edo state, there's already complaint by the Gov that the Oba is using cultists to collect ishakole to run its operation when it should be funded by the LGAs and not hiring alleged cultists he is now blaming for the insecurity in Benin.

May God bless Nigeria for ever! Check my signature for free stuffs!

Kenochi:
This punch editorial is saying a lot of things but not making sense
In one word,you condemn the Governors for dissolving democratically elected local government councils and in another breadth you say that council chairmen are irresponsible because they don't pay primary school teachers
The same article says that there are only two federating units but in another breadth,it says in the Nigerian Constitution it mentions and lists three federating units
This same article talks about America and Brazil,is there any rule that says that any country can't determine what structure of government would work for it

Paraman:
I disagree with The Punch, state government still have the power to create LCDA. Otti is owing LG workers at least 11 month arrears.

Racoon:
As if the governors have bettered governance since the advent of democratic government in 1999. Let the LGAs to breathe. Abeg let them rest this case.

ALTERNATEID:
There is no single sense in this editorial. Not even one.

FreeStuffsNG:
The State and Local Government Joint Account was created because council bosses were looting funds and not paying primary school teachers. Since that account was created, primary school teachers are no longer owed salaries. Sadly, paying the monthly allocation directly to the councils would not stop the diversion of council funds.

States should stop the illegal practice of dissolving elected councils and appointing caretaker committees. Local elections should be free, fair, and credible to ensure accountability.

The two paragraphs above are part of the inconsistencies in the Punch Editorial. In one breadth it blamed the LGs for owing primary school teachers and claimed that the problem was solved with the State-LGAs joint account while in another breadth it admitted that there is the problem of illegal dissolution of democratically elected LGA administration and replacement with caretaker committees funded from the joint account.

Another inconsistency is boxing federalism into a certain mould as if the independence of LGAs suddenly strips away the operation of true federalism. India and Brazil are bad examples because of their caste system against certain people and religions in their countries. The central government of Brazil is taking over indigenous lands by fiat while India's democracy doesn't pretend that it's a government of the Hindus by the Hindus for the Hindus so much that the central government can demolish Mosques and build Hindu temple to replace the Mosques. Which kind of federalism gives central government the authority to impose religion on a LG? That's no federalism and bad of the Punch to cite both Brazil and India.

The Supreme Court is in order by insisting that the LGAs democratically elected leaders can never be effective unless they enjoy financial autonomy. The constitution never denied or affirmed the LGAs financial autonomy so the SC is not wrong by recognizing that the same independence the federating States could exercise is because of their financial autonomy and same privilege should be extended to LGAs.

Primary School teachers were equally indicted too when it was discovered that many of them were always absent from work and many barely qualified to teach. That's the problem of TRCN that should ensure that only professional teachers in its national register are recruited , it's not entirely the fault of the LGAs. If the payment of primary school teachers will be a problem then their salaries should be deducted from source so that no LG executive will tamper with their salaries. The rest should be monitored by EFCC and NFIU. If possible build special courts to quickly prosecute and severely punish any corrupt LG official and/or traditional institution Head.

That state-LG joint account arrangement is nothing more than a piggy bank for some state Governors and that's the weapon they use to remove democratically elected LG executives and even strip the traditional institutions of funds and render them impotent ,so much that insecurity has taken over and some Community Heads and royal authorities are at the mercy of rich bandits,
cultists and criminals who can easily buy their loyalty by placing them on their payroll with the illicit funds from their crimes. In Edo state, there's already complaint by the Gov that the Oba is using cultists to collect ishakole to run its operation when it should be funded by the LGAs and not hiring alleged cultists he is now blaming for the insecurity in Benin.

May God bless Nigeria for ever! Check my signature for free stuffs!

Villagesquare:
I have been saying this and nobody cares to listen. What we need now is a true fiscal Federal System or even a restructured Federal System. Decentralized power is highly needed now

joseph1832:
Obviously, I won't be surprised if this editorial is sponsored by one unscrupulous governor.

LG autonomy is recognized in the constitution. So I wonder why whoever wrote this editorial is crying wolf and saying we need to correct it.

How come we are correcting LG autonomy, but not the wasteful and dictatorial tendency of many governors. Despite receiving billions from the FAAC, they refuse to show what they use this money for.

Editorials like this piece of garbage shouldn't even make Nairaland Front Page.

DatNiggaDaz:
Agbado lawyers from the land of emilokans have destroyed what buhari left to be destroyed. To know that the Minister of justice & the chief judge of the supreme court don't know what federalism means tells you a lot about the much talked about sophisticatiion of these rascals.



When you hear them shouting sophisticatiion, you will think intelligence comes with it. But what is means is to go tribal ronu, nepotistic & bigoted when it involves other ethnic Nigerians.

The politicians from that place are the worst set of politicians in the whole world. Anything that has already been destroyed, they destroy even further. Political power is not meant for these Set of fraudsters because corruption, tribalism greed, bigotry & nepotism will is always taken to a whole New heigth like what we are experiencing from the most sophisticated failure to come out of that region.

When they mistakenly grab power, you will notice that everything start to fall like a torn Pack of cards. They use rascality, threats, corruption, thugs, agberos as avenue to get what ever they like.

Thesame thing happened in the 60ties with operation wetie

They are only good in praise singing incompetent clueless failures from back to back.

ITbomb:
■ I am not against LGA autonomy but it is not the duty of the supreme Court to add or subtract anything in the constitution that is the work of the legislature
■ When you suspend State LG Joint account as prescribed in the constitution (subtraction) and Create a third tier of government (addiction) without enabling laws on how the allocation will be channeled. That is an aberration.
■ For the education of those who may not know, Fed govt do not share allocations, any money from the federation account must be agreed by the States and the FG before one Naira is shared. Federal then take their share, states take their share and that of the LGA in the joint account So what the Supreme Court did was to give FG the powers to sign on behalf of the LGA and take their share of the allocation which is more of centralizing instead of moving towards federalism.

FreeStuffsNG:


How much did they Punch Newspaper for writing this rubbish. Every right thinking person knows what these Governors are doing with Local Government allocations.
By Punch Editorial Board



https://punchng.com/supreme-court-got-it-wrong-on-lg-autonomy/

Kenochi:
This punch editorial is saying a lot of things but not making sense
In one word,you condemn the Governors for dissolving democratically elected local government councils and in another breadth you say that council chairmen are irresponsible because they don't pay primary school teachers
The same article says that there are only two federating units but in another breadth,it says in the Nigerian Constitution it mentions and lists three federating units
This same article talks about America and Brazil,is there any rule that says that any country can't determine what structure of government would work for it
Is it not in this same country that Governors loot their states blind,should we now say that because Governors are corrupt,we should scarp states and bring back regions instead
Please this article is just playing to the gallery,and I don't blame them
In our 24 years of Democratic experience,we have seen our LGAs become a place used by Governors to settle their political touts and aides
The LGAs if truly functional is supposed to a place where future leaders are spotted,it creates avenues for councillors to be elected,the circle of political leadership starts from the bottom
Who says an LGA Chairman can't raise to be become the president if he performs well
Finally,all this talk of corruption must stop,LGA Chairpersons don't have immunity and any chairman that transfers his monthly allocations to the state would have himself to blame
What needs to be done is for the Govt., and the media to start sensitizing the public on the role of the LGAs
If all organs of Govt. are functioning,it will reduce the pressure on the Federal Government

Kobojunkie:
LCDAs are state-level creations. They are no recognized by the Constitution and so do not matter except to the States that have them for state-level reasons.

opalu:
Imported Federalism and Imported Democracy can never work in Nigeria. We have to use what works for us. If having three Tiers of Government is what works for us, so be it. Punch should stop bring Indian style into Nigerian system. When LGs were receiving direct allocations, we saw how wealth was circulating at the grassroots. Because out of 774 Chairmen, atleast if we have 300 good people, Suffering at the grassroots won't be like this. Then EFCC can chase the rest. No immunity for them. But Governors with immunity can use LGA funds to buy Dubai houses and immunity would shield them

FreeStuffsNG:



By Punch Editorial Board



https://punchng.com/supreme-court-got-it-wrong-on-lg-autonomy/

Paraman:
What's your point exactly?

Kobojunkie:
LCDAs do not matter as fad as the Constitution is concerned.

FreeStuffsNG:
The State and Local Government Joint Account was created because council bosses were looting funds and not paying primary school teachers. Since that account was created, primary school teachers are no longer owed salaries. Sadly, paying the monthly allocation directly to the councils would not stop the diversion of council funds.

States should stop the illegal practice of dissolving elected councils and appointing caretaker committees. Local elections should be free, fair, and credible to ensure accountability.

The two paragraphs above are part of the inconsistencies in the Punch Editorial. In one breadth it blamed the LGs for owing primary school teachers and claimed that the problem was solved with the State-LGAs joint account while in another breadth it admitted that there is the problem of illegal dissolution of democratically elected LGA administration and replacement with caretaker committees funded from the joint account.

Another inconsistency is boxing federalism into a certain mould as if the independence of LGAs suddenly strips away the operation of true federalism. India and Brazil are bad examples because of their caste system against certain people and religions in their countries. The central government of Brazil is taking over indigenous lands by fiat while India's democracy doesn't pretend that it's a government of the Hindus by the Hindus for the Hindus so much that the central government can demolish Mosques and build Hindu temple to replace the Mosques. Which kind of federalism gives central government the authority to impose religion on a LG? That's no federalism and bad of the Punch to cite both Brazil and India.

The Supreme Court is in order by insisting that the LGAs democratically elected leaders can never be effective unless they enjoy financial autonomy. The constitution never denied or affirmed the LGAs financial autonomy so the SC is not wrong by recognizing that the same independence the federating States could exercise is because of their financial autonomy and same privilege should be extended to LGAs.

Primary School teachers were equally indicted too when it was discovered that many of them were always absent from work and many barely qualified to teach. That's the problem of TRCN that should ensure that only professional teachers in its national register are recruited , it's not entirely the fault of the LGAs. If the payment of primary school teachers will be a problem then their salaries should be deducted from source so that no LG executive will tamper with their salaries. The rest should be monitored by EFCC and NFIU. If possible build special courts to quickly prosecute and severely punish any corrupt LG official and/or traditional institution Head.

That state-LG joint account arrangement is nothing more than a piggy bank for some state Governors and that's the weapon they use to remove democratically elected LG executives and even strip the traditional institutions of funds and render them impotent ,so much that insecurity has taken over and some Community Heads and royal authorities are at the mercy of rich bandits,
cultists and criminals who can easily buy their loyalty by placing them on their payroll with the illicit funds from their crimes. In Edo state, there's already complaint by the Gov that the Oba is using cultists to collect ishakole to run its operation when it should be funded by the LGAs and not hiring alleged cultists he is now blaming for the insecurity in Benin.

May God bless Nigeria for ever! Check my signature for free stuffs!

Paraman:
I never said LCDAs are created by the Nigerian constitution

Kenochi:
This punch editorial is saying a lot of things but not making sense
In one word,you condemn the Governors for dissolving democratically elected local government councils and in another breadth you say that council chairmen are irresponsible because they don't pay primary school teachers
The same article says that there are only two federating units but in another breadth,it says in the Nigerian Constitution it mentions and lists three federating units
This same article talks about America and Brazil,is there any rule that says that any country can't determine what structure of government would work for it
Is it not in this same country that Governors loot their states blind,should we now say that because Governors are corrupt,we should scarp states and bring back regions instead
Please this article is just playing to the gallery,and I don't blame them
In our 24 years of Democratic experience,we have seen our LGAs become a place used by Governors to settle their political touts and aides
The LGAs if truly functional is supposed to a place where future leaders are spotted,it creates avenues for councillors to be elected,the circle of political leadership starts from the bottom
Who says an LGA Chairman can't raise to be become the president if he performs well
Finally,all this talk of corruption must stop,LGA Chairpersons don't have immunity and any chairman that transfers his monthly allocations to the state would have himself to blame
What needs to be done is for the Govt., and the media to start sensitizing the public on the role of the LGAs
If all organs of Govt. are functioning,it will reduce the pressure on the Federal Government

Kobojunkie:
The creation or not of LCDAs do not matter.