Adamawa State Government has expressed readiness for local governments to start accessing federal allocation directly with effect from this month, January.
The government said at the weekend that it had always been comfortable with local government autonomy because it was in line with its own belief and practice.
The state Commissioner for Information & Strategy, James Iliya who spoke on the court ruling ordering commencement of payment of council allocation directly, said the state government was okay with it.
“We are with the Federal Government over this local council autonomy and we have always been,” the commissioner said.
According to the commissioner, the local governments in Adamawa State have always been among the freest in the country since Ahmadu Fintiri became the governor nearly six years ago.
“Our local governments have long been free,” he said, stressing, “local council autonomy in Adamawa State came before the autonomy worked out at the federal level rather recently.”
DAILY POST recalls that the Supreme Court, which on July 11, 2024 granted financial autonomy to local governments, ordered that starting from January 2025, local councils will begin receiving direct allocations from the Federation Account.
Hence, the disbursement of this month’s allocation is expected to kick-off the new system, freeing the councils from interference by state governments.
The Supreme Court’s ruling outlawed the state-local government joint account that has traditionally been used to channel council allocations and which was blamed for alleged abuse by many state governments.
Adamawa expresses readiness for local govts to access federal allocation directly