CONSTITUTIONAL STATUS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNDER THE 1999 CONSTITUTION: AN APPRAISAL

Local government have in recent times excited a lot of interest especially because of the enormous revenue which they sccm to be getting from the federation account and whether or not the state government have an absolute control over their affairs, Jt 1s indeed an honour to examine such important topic.' The main focus of this paper is to consider the legal and constitutional status of the local government, raise issues in the hope that it will provoke further discussions in our quest and desire to properly understang and appreciate the constitutional status of Local Government under the 1999 Constitution For the avoidance of doubt all views or errors expressed in this paper are mine and I fully accept responsibility for them. The writer will however graciously accept corrections whenever or wherever they are pointed out if they were based on superior arguments or latest legislation on the issue which could have been gloss over. On the views or opinion expressed there is no claim to either their finality or exhaustiveness on any matter raised or examined. Consequently the discussion will initially be predicated on comparative analysis of the status of Local Governments under the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions,’ the legal and constitutional relationship between the Federal, State and Local Governments. the function of the local governments under the 1999 Constitution, Finances of local governments and their constitutional responsibilities.