By way of recall, the apex court in Nigeria delivered judgment some months ago directing the release of local government statutory allocations to the councils directly and no more through the state/local government joint accounts. The rationale behind the judgment stemmed from the abuse of the fund through misappropriation by some State Governors/Governments. This conclusion had to be reached notwithstanding the express creation of the Joint Account in the Constitution in order to give effect to the purpose of the fund, applying the mischief rule conjunctively.
I must say that till date, the implementation of the judgment is still suffering in the hands of the ‘powers that be’, the Federal and the State government actors. Certainly, this is not good enough for the rule of law in the country, and sets a bad precedent for the non-state actors. As stated above, all Nigerians, including the President, appreciate the failure of governance at the local government level in the country, which, in the first instance, prompted the Attorney General of the Federation to institute the suit at the apex court against the Governors. The President realized that no degree of effort by him in the delivery of good governance in the country can be meaningful in the absence of effective governance at the local government level. There is no doubt that till date, nothing has significantly changed in the polity as per the enthronement of good governance at the grassroots level, that is, the local government councils.
The application of the accruable sums to the local government councils for the benefit of the citizens remains an illusion. Continuous pilferage and misappropriation of the funds is still the order of the day. To this extent, the people at the grassroots level continue to be disillusioned. Gone were the days that there was healthy infrastructural development rivalry amongst the various local government councils.
The competition in contemporary times is however on the degree of misappropriation amongst the helmsmen of the councils. Now, as the Lagos State Government is on the way to having its local government elections, I believe that beyond the demand for election of quality and credible people into the local government councils, it is important that we start agitating on how we can tame the potential excesses of the incoming helmsmen and their cohorts in terms of corruption.
This is crucial as humongous sums of money are now being remitted into the local government councils’ purses, and the calculation and struggle as to how to ‘share’ the loot amongst the political leaders, (dealers) and the public office holders have now heightened. This discourse is even no more covert as it is now a fashion. Most of the so-called political leaders in the States, just like their peers in the other States, are gearing up towards looting the funds.
As I recently remarked in one of my interventions, most of them have no alternative contact addresses. All they do daily is to wake up and await the arrival of statutory allocations into the council purses in which they must superintend the looting. This is in addition most times to the misappropriation of the internally generated revenue through the hijack of the revenue points.
They have no business nor trade they engage in other than politics of scavenging. They are not interested in any good governance or delivery of democratic dividends to the people. As you see them struggle for the enthronement of their cronies, it is certainly not for the good of the people but their personal agenda. That explains why, in local parlance, they are regarded as ‘ojelu’, parasites on public treasury, as opposed to ‘oselu’ who are adherents of good governance. All efforts in decades to transform them have continuously failed, and rather than getting better, it is getting worse. Kaka ki o san lara omo iya aje, lile ni o n le si which literally means that than the son of the witch being remorseful, he’s getting more recalcitrant.
The truth, as remarked by the late Ewi exponent, Chief Olanrewaju Adepoju, once you ask a person what is profession is, and he replied, “politics”, you should shout “thief!” on him. I acknowledge the bother of Mr. President in this seemingly helpless and hopeless situation.
I am aware of his concern and drive to effect some reforms in this respect. It is in this connection that I was approached to be conscripted into the process of recruiting the new leaders but somehow, I was unable to give in, hence my limited criticism of the unfolding scenarios. I truly lack the moral authority to question the various outcomes. I must equally register my commendation for the efforts and desire of some of the handlers of the process like Honourable James Faleke to ensure the emergence of credible people but as expected, the strive was impaired through the sentimental abuse of positions and privileges by certain characters. As this is not my mission in this conversation, I can only say that I sympathize with Hon. Faleke and his team.
They have however done their best and hopefully, future exercise will improve on this, and history will credit them for their genuineness of efforts. The truth however remains, despite the best intention of the President and the said team, some misfits and charlatans still crept in as candidates. These are the irritants and contaminants that must not be availed unbridled power. Some of these characters and incompetent lots do not even understand the meaning of governance, much less good governance. It is to this extent that we must urgently engage and strategise towards staving off this impurity threatening what is supposed to be pristine state of governance delivery at the local government level.
Ordinarily, we should not be sweating over this if only the political parties had done the needful by ensuring that the best and quality candidates emerge. I recall the tenure of Mallam El Rufai during which qualifying examination was conducted for aspirants to the Councils then. In some other few states, I have noticed the emergence of Professors and doctorate degree holders at that level. Although some of them may not be the most popular in their constituencies, the truth remains that legally, it is the political parties that contest election and are best suited to campaign on their political promises and programs. If this situation is of reckoning, then the political parties would have set the benchmarks for the realization of the constitutional obligations and duties for their candidates and eventually elected officials.
Regrettably, this is not the situation, thus requiring us to interrogate the compelling need for benchmarking and accountability. This is the crux of the discourse in this engagement. To this end, let me commence with the controversy around the status of the local government councils under the Nigerian Constitution and polity. Although some commentators are of the view that Nigerian federalism comprises of two tiers of government, the federal and the state governments, implying that the local government councils are just mere appendages of the state governments, I am of the contrary view as the Constitution explicitly recognizes the local government councils as a tier of government.
Several decisions of the apex court, up to the latest decision on direct remittance of funds to the local government councils, attest to this.
Had it been that the former view is correct, controlling and monitoring the activities of the local government councils by responsible state governments would have simply resolved the challenge but the latter appears to be the unassailable position. To that extent of the local government being a third tier of government, it is technically impossible for the federal or the state governments to be the direct monitors of the local government councils.
The implication of this is that it is only the legislatures of the councils that would technically be competent to check the excesses of the council chairmen. Unfortunately, most of those in this category, that is the Councilors, are not better than the culprits we are dealing with. They are as rotten, if not worse than the helmsmen. They are active collaborators in the act of dissipation of funds. They therefore constitute partners in crime.
How then do we checkmate the excesses and the corruptive tendencies of these characters? In this respect, let me start by saluting the wisdom in the decisions of the apex court in respect of the powers of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirming the competence and powers of the agencies to check corruption up to the States and the local governments.
This good news is the first port of call. By this I mean the anti-corruption agencies such as the NFIU, EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal , if vigilant, can be the primary source of monitor and check on the potential abuse and corruptive tendencies of the Local Government Councils. Riots acts must be read to the elected officials at the earliest opportunity. Beyond monitoring their expenditures, the anti-corruption bodies need to be proactive by designing along with them and the Auditor General of the Local Governments water-tight and stringent procurement policies and processes. For transparency and integrity of the process, it will not be out of place to supervise the local government councils’ procurement processes. I know that the immediate query will be the capacity of the anti-corruption bodies, in terms of personnel, to be able to do this. My response is that, if need be, more recruitment must be done.
Beyond that, if the responsibilities are shared out amongst these bodies, the demand will thin out. In addition, the anti-corruption agencies need to monitor the life styles of not only the elected officials but their jobless ‘godfathers’ who conspire in misappropriating the council funds. Of course, in each local government council area, the people can supply the names of these so-called leaders that are truly dealers, whose lifestyles must equally be monitored. Let me digress a bit to call on the anti-corruption agencies to start training and licensing private investigators who can complement their efforts directly and indirectly. It will be a source of relief as their activities are often covert and they know how best to access information. More informants at the local government level also need to be recruited to make their works magical and miraculous. The people themselves, who are the expected beneficiaries of the funds, need to wake up from their slumber in ensuring probity and accountability. They must demand to know the state of the councils’ expenditures monthly. How much comes into the government both by way of statutory allocation and internally generated revenue?
How is the fund appropriated and spent? They must not only be part of the budgetary process but must monitor the implementation. They must gather and disseminate information to the anti-corruption agencies of the vices going on in their local government councils. Dissemination of information on illicit funds and properties acquired by the elected officials must be their business. It is equally important that they take advantage of the Freedom of Information Act and other enabling instruments to demand information. The anti-corruption reporting channels must be furnished to enable them to pass on information seamlessly and covertly. The various civil society groups network must be activated, particularly in those local government areas that are naturally vulnerable to the pressure of political ‘dealers’ and corruption. Although, I am aware of the ongoing conversation around this by the leaders of the civil society groups, the discussion must be fast-tracked.
Again, we must not forget, nor ignore the role the office of the Auditor General of the local government can play in the design of the processes as alluded to above, but also in the unveiling of corrupt acts in the local government councils. Collectively we need to snuff corruption out of the officials. If we are able to tame corruption at this grassroots level, it is easier to cascade it to the higher levels of government. Although the various community development associations exist, they are equally not free from the same affliction.
Once some crumbs are dropped for them, they forget the interest of the people they are representing. It is really a herculean task but not insurmountable. Lagos must be lead the revolution and reform by setting the model for other local governments across the country. As I close, out of frustration, I continuously pray that God reward the corrupt elements in the councils and their collaborators in multiple fold up to their unborn generations.