State Joint Local Government Account and Financial Autonomy for Local Government in Nigeria

The 1999 Nigerian constitution recognizes the three tiers of governments in Nigeria, Federal State and Local government. L.Gs as part of the tier of government, constitution grants them allocations from the federation account on monthly basis, but the allocations are paid into an account created by law called the State Joint Local Government Account. The work aimed at examining the operation of State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA) and its implication on autonomy of local government in an effort to deliver service to the grassroots. Based upon above objectives, this work adopted secondary sources of data collection. The findings of the work is that state joint local government account has brought negative effects on local governments in forth republic as the states government mismanaged the federal allocation to local governments in Nigeria. Based on this findings, it is the recommended that the state joint local government account be abolished through amendment of 1999 constitution.