President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law the financial autonomy of state legislatures and state judiciaries across Nigeria.
In a tweet made on the president’s official twitter handle, President Buhari said the signing into law was based on the powers vested on him under the section 5 of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
The tweet reads thus: “Based on the power vested in me under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended), I, today, signed into law Executive Order No. 10 of 2020 for the implementation of Financial Autonomy of State Legislature and State Judiciary.”
In a similar statement, the Nigerian attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, said the executive order No 10 of 2020 has made it compulsory for all states to include the allocation for the judiciary and the legislature in their yearly appropriation laws.
There has been clamour for financial autonomy for these two arms of government over the years. The financial autonomy of these two bodies will make them not to depend entirely on the executive in sourcing funding for their programmes.
The implementation of financial autonomy for these two arms of government will strengthen the two bodies to be independent and accountable with democratic tenets.
