What if your local council actually got its cash straight from Abuja? Atiku Abubakar says that will happen on day one if he becomes President.

The presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has pledged to ensure that funds meant for Nigeria’s local governments are paid directly to them immediately after he is sworn in as President.

Atiku pledged this in a statement signed and posted via X dot com by his official spokesperson, Kenneth Okonkwo, on Tuesday.

The former Vice President said his administration would uphold the rule of law and ensure constitutional independence for all tiers of government, including local governments.

Atiku also referenced the Supreme Court judgment delivered in July 2024 on the financial autonomy of local governments, accusing the administration of President Bola Tinubu of failing to enforce the judgment.

According to him, the alleged failure was aimed at avoiding confrontation with state governors who previously controlled local government funds.

The statement partly read, "My administration will respect court judgments, protect local government autonomy, ensure that public funds reach the people for whom they are meant and restore true federalism"

This move will ensure that development is brought to the grassroots, reduce poverty at the level of government nearest to the people and guarantee financial independence to the local governments, which will increase their capacity to fight crimes and terrorism at that level.

Atiku alleged that the Tinubu administration's position was influenced by political considerations ahead of the 2027 presidential election. He claimed that state governors were being allowed to retain control of local government funds as an incentive to support Tinubu's re-election bid.

This is not the Nigeria we should accept, the former Vice President stated.

Two years after the Supreme Court ordered the direct payment of federal allocations to local government councils,s implementation of that landmark financial autonomy judgment remains stalled despite 10.48 trillion naira being allocated to the third tier of government within the period.

Nigeria runs a three-tier federal system federal 36 states and 774 local government areas. On paper, local governments are supposed to be the closest to the people, handling primary healthcar,e primary education, local roads and markets.

In reality,y for over two decades their money has gone through a joint State Joint Local Government Account created by Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution. Governors control that account,nt and critics say they have used it to withhold, divert or dictate how councils spend their share.

That is what the Supreme Court tried to end. On 11 July 2024, in a suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation,n Lateef Fagbemi, mi against the 36 state governors, a seven-member panel led by Justice Emmanuel Agim ruled unanimously that it is unconstitutional for state governments to retain or control funds meant for councils.

The court ordered that allocations must henceforth be paid directly from the Federation Account to democratically elected local government councils and barred governors from dissolving elected councils to install caretaker committees.

It was celebrated as a game changer for grassroots development. But implementation has stalled. Reports show that about 10.48 trillion naira has accrued to councils since the judgment, with 1.46 trillion naira in Q1 2026 alone still passing through states while an implementation committee involving the Federal Government,t the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria and the Nigeria Governors Forum continues to debate modalities, including opening accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The National Union of Local Government Employees says councils still cannot access funds directly, which means boreholes, clinics and local security initiatives remain at the mercy of state capitals.

Atiku, Vice President from 1999 to 2007 under Olusegun Obasanjo and a long-time advocate of restructuring and true federalism, is clearly pitching this as a grassroots vote winner. Whether direct allocation alone can fix local government without also fixing local elections accountability, ty and capacity is the bigger question Nigerians will be asking ahead of 2027.

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