President Muhammadu Buhari has signed Executive Order number 10 of 2020, granting State Legislatures and the Judiciary financial autonomy.
Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami who made this known through his special assistant on media said to ensure compliance with the executive order, the president has also constituted an implementation committee to fashion out modalities for financial autonomy for the two bodies in line with section 121(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended).
According to the statement the implementation of financial autonomy of the State Legislature and State Judiciary will strengthen the institutions at the second tier of government and make them more independent and accountable in line with the tenets of constitutional democracy.
The Order provides that “The Accountant-General of the Federation shall by this Order and such any other Orders, Regulations or Guidelines as may be issued by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, authorise the deduction from source in the course of Federation Accounts Allocation from the money allocated to any State of the Federation that fails to release allocation meant for the State Legislature and State Judiciary in line with the financial autonomy guaranteed by Nigerian Constitution“.
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The implementation provides that all states of the Federation shall include the allocations of the two arms of government in their Appropriation Laws.
Article 6 (1) of the Order provides that “notwithstanding the provisions of this Executive Order, in the first 3 years of its implementation, there shall be special extraordinary capital allocations for the Judiciary to undertake capital development of State Judiciary Complexes, High Court Complexes, Sharia Court of Appeal, Customary Court of Appeal and Court Complexes of other Courts befitting the status of a Courts.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
