Veritatis Gaudium: Multidisciplinary Journal of Postgraduate Studies

Forty-seven (47) years after its first statutory enablement, and twenty-seven (27) years after its statutory consolidation, Nigeria still grapples with the uncertainty as to whether Local Government Councils’ (LGC) autonomy is a constitutional right or not. The Supreme Court’s decision in AG of Fed v AG of Abia State & Ors, and the Anambra Local Government Administration Law 2024 are pointers to the persistence of the uncertainty. This study concedes that the contestation as to LGC autonomy is perennial, and cannot be healed by the judgment of any court, except by an amendment of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 to expressly provide for LGC autonomy.

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