President Muhammadu Buhari has signed into law, an Executive Order to grant financial autonomy to the legislature and the judiciary across the 36 states of the country.
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, disclosed this in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Public Relations, Mr Umar Gwandu.
The law mandates the Accountant-General of the Federation to deduct the amount due to state legislatures and judiciaries from the monthly allocation to each state.
Mr Malami said the Executive Order makes it mandatory for all states of the Federation to include allocations of both the legislature and judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.
He maintained that the implementation of financial autonomy of the state legislature and state judiciary would strengthen the institutions at the states and make them more independent and accountable in line with the tenets of democracy, as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.