THE Supreme Court five years ago annulled some sections of the Monitoring of Revenue Allocation To Local Governments Act 2005 that awarded the Auditor-General of the Federation powers to monitor the use of funds allocated to the local government areas.

Justice Niki Tobi’s lead judgment then stated, “The Federal Government is not an overseer or auditor of how the funds distributed to states and local governments are spent.

That function falls on the House of Assembly, the Auditor General and the people of the state,” Justice Tobi said, quoting a lecture former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Muhammadu Uwais delivered in 2005.

Governments of Abia, Delta and Lagos had brought the suit, arguing some provisions of the Act ran against powers the Constitution vested on States over local governments.

Section 9 of the Act had stated, “The Auditor General of the Federation shall, following the end of the financial year, report to each House of the National Assembly, stating how the monies allocated to each state for the benefit of the local government councils within the state were spent”. Section 162 (8) of the Constitution states, “The amount standing to the credit of local government councils of a State shall be distributed among the local government councils of that State on such terms in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the State”.

Justice Tobi said, “The word ‘monitoring’ conveys some element of policing the state governments. The word means to watch, to check. It is a very arrogant word that spells some doom in a federal structure”.

A warning Justice Tobi gave during that judgment remains relevant. “I should say that any person who is at the corridors of local government finances or funds and sees this judgment as a victory in the sense that he has freedom to steal from the finances or funds, should think twice and quickly remind himself that the two anti-corruption bodies ICPC and EFCC are watching closely, and will without notice pounce on him for incarceration after due process,” he warned.

Local government funds are a major platform for corruption. Accountability is absent. State governments leaning on Section 162 (8) of the Constitution use the funds as they wish. State Houses of Assembly are so weak that they allow governors use the funds without clear provisions for accountability.

Governors have immunity from prosecution. They take the money while in office, and they seem to take enough that even when they leave office, they have enough resources to battle their way in the courts, when they are out of office.

No governor, to date, has been convicted on how he abused the funds. The escape of governors and others who abuse these funds from prosecution has emboldened others to plunder the funds recklessly.

Efforts at prosecuting local government chairmen, and the various states accountants-general and auditors-general, who superintend the abuses, have at best been tepid contrary to the expectations of Justice Tobi in his judgment.

This could be possible because the prosecuting authorities realise governors are the culprits.

None of these state officials enjoys the immunity which hinders prosecution of governors, the principal culprits in the misuse of local government funds. Local government officials are major parts of the corruption chain. The few who have complained against governors have been impeached and have no relief.

Unprecedented resources have been availed local government councils in the past 12 years. They have been misused with impunity. The best testimony to the abuses is the poor level of development in rural Nigeria.

The war on corruption would remain a farce if public funds are wantonly stolen without sanctions. EFCC wastes its time pontificating on the war on corruption.

Its refusal to take the activities of local government serious accounts for the high levels of corruptions in these areas.

Justice Tobi thought too highly of EFCC when it reminded looters that the agency would be after them.