Constitutional amendment is the adjustment of the provisions of the Constitution to reflect current realities. Change is the only constant thing in life. What worked in 1960 did not work in 1963. The British retained their authority in the 1960 Constitution and made the Queen the Highest office in the land. In 1963, Nigerians removed all the vestiges of colonisation and changed Nigeria from a constitutional parliamentary monarchy to a republican parliamentary constitutional democracy. The coup of 1966 truncated the first republic and foisted military style unitary system of government on Nigeria. This unitary system was to find its way in the 1979 Constitution, especially in the areas of revenue sharing and the monopoly of the Federal Government of all the coercive powers of the Federation, with the effect that states now go cap in hand to the federal government for their share of the revenue of the federation and no state has any security agency to enforce its laws. The 1979 Constitution morphed into 1999 Constitution with some minor changes. We can see that the Constitution at every turn of events reflected the realities of the prevailing circumstances then. Today, we have serious security and economic challenges. Serious mistrust in the mutual coexistence of the different peoples of Nigeria. The critical question is whether the provisions of the 1999 Constitution reflect the current realities and provide enough bulwark to tackle the challenges. The answer is no, hence the need for urgent amendments.
Let us note, however, that the best Constitution on earth does not solve security and economic challenges, the best leaders do. Nigeria has serious leadership problems that are found wanting in knowledge and character. Appointments are largely clanish in nature and solutions to challenges are unequally administered from the prism of primordial sentiments. Corruption has become systemic and productivity has taken one way flight out of Nigeria. We are busy sharing the national cake rather than baking it and now the cake is diminished, if not finished, we are busy fighting each other and agonising over the finished cake rather than organising to bake new cakes. In this regard, we urgently need the amendment of our character before contemplating the amendment of our Constitution, otherwise, it will be an exercise in futility, even if it produces the best Constitution in the world. Majority of our leaders today, both politicians and civil servants, are suffering from Acute Integrity Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which is a terminal character trait in leaders that can terminate the existence of any country, if the jobs of such leaders are not terminated. The greatest weakness of President Buhari’s government is in its inability to terminate the terminators. Some of his military and para-military commanders, ministers and information managers have displayed great incompetence and corruptive tendencies but are allowed to continue in their posts thereby depreciating the goodwill of the government in the eyes of the people.
There’s no place that this lack of character is exemplified in Nigeria as in the management of the Local Governments. Local Government Administration is the third tier of government in Nigeria. To be honest, the present provisions regarding the Local Governments in our Constitution were enacted in good faith and intended to ensure the most efficient running of that tier of government. But the lack of character of the leaders at that level has made it nearly impossible to efficiently run the local government. The most controversial section is the provision of “State Joint Local Government Account” between the State Government and the Local Government. The intention of the drafters of this provision was to create an atmosphere where the States will add the income due to the Local Governments from the State account to the amount due from the Federal Government and move the total to the Local Governments. Section 162(6-8) of the 1999 Constitution states that “Each State shall maintain a special account to be called ‘State Joint Local Government Account’ into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State. Each State shall pay to Local Government Councils in its area of jurisdiction such proportion of its total revenue on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly. The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils of a State shall be distributed among the Local Government Councils of that State on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the State”. Instead, the joint State/Local Governments account became a conduit pipe to settle the boys and thugs who helped the politicians rig elections rather than an avenue for efficient Local Government Administration, with the resultant effect that no meaningful development is going on at that tier of government.
The Federal Government, under the leadership of President Buhari devised some ingenious ways to bypass the joint State/Local Government account to ensure that the money meant for the Local Governments reach them directly. But they will soon discover that this will not solve the problem of interference by the State Governments in the Local Governments accounts, this is because with the State Independent Electoral Commission, which has become an appendage of the Governors, still responsible for the appointment (obviously not election, despite the language of the Constitution) of the Local Government Chairmen, the rot will continue because every Local Government Chairman owes his appointment to the Governors not the people. Also, there’s no protection of any Local Government Chairman who displays obstinacy towards any Governor in order to protect the account of the Local Government and work for the people. Such Chairmen will be sacked immediately. Moreover, any new State administration that appears on the horizon sacks all the Local Government Chairmen and installs their own men, through caretaker committees, despite plethora of Supreme Court judgements illegalizing such actions. Any party that organises elections at the State level wins all the seats, even if the party is a day old in power. Any Governor that defects to another party carrys all the Local Government Chairmen along with him, whether they like it or not.
These have led to the collapse of the Local Government Administration and the only solution now is urgent Constitutional amendment to remove all bottlenecks to the efficient running of the Local Governments. This solution does not rest on creating separate accounts for the Local Governments, it lies in creating favourable environment for the independence of the Local Governments from the State Governments. They are a tier of government not an appendage of the State Government. The only plausible amendment that will guarantee this independence of the Local Government is the enthronement of INEC as the sole authority that organises Local Government elections. This will grant job security on Local Government elected officers, ensure that elected officials of the Local Governments derive their powers from the sovereignty of the people given to them through free, fair and credible elections, which will in turn spur them to actions that will be beneficial to the people because they will now be answerable to the people. Parties of all persuasions can win elections through INEC and there will be genuine competition amongst the parties on which will surpass the developmental strides of the other at this important tier of government.
The relationship between the States and the Federal Government should be replicated between the States and the Local Governments. Allowing INEC to organise elections at the local government levels does not offend true federalism, it ensures free and fair elections. Every country organises its elections in line with their level of civilization. In America, the Federating units or States organise both the Federal and State elections. There are 50 States of America. This means that there are 50 different laws that supervise elections into the office of the President. You can imagine if we have same in Nigeria and its concomitant chaotic effects because of the weakness of the federating units’ institutions. In restructuring our country, we must look inwards rather than importing unhelpful foreign laws and traditions. At the stage of our democratic process, we need only one law to organise all elections at the federal, state and local government levels.
The present provision in Section 7 (1), in which the Federal Government is expected to guarantee democracy at the Local Government level, while the State Governments are given the power to make law that ensures the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils is not working. Amendments should be made that constitutionally guarantee the tenure, structure, composition, finance and functions of the Local Governments. This will guarantee the stability of the government at that tier and insulate the Local Government Administration from the kleptomaniacical tendencies of some State Governors.
On the other hand, in the likely event that the Governors obstruct the amendments of the Constitution to reflect the independence of the Local Governments, through the subservient Houses of Assembly and if the Federation is helpless by this action, then the best alternative is to delete the Local Government Administration completely from the Constitution. This will allow each State to decide the Local Government Administration that is best suited for their localities. It will reduce cost of governance as each State will organise their local governments in line with their resources. This will also correct the inequities in the creation of Local Governments which were created by military fiat without due regard to the federal character principle. With this, the State Governments will be held responsible for the finance and functions of the Local Governments as against what it is now where everybody is denying responsibility for the rot in the local government administration.
We must note that strengthening the Local Government Administration is very important because it provides the training ground for future national leaders. Most of the Local Government Chairmen that won their seats in 1999 have now risen to prominent national political offices. The corruptive tendencies they acquired from their local government exposure has graduated to the national level. Some of the members of the National Assembly have at one time or the other served at the local government levels. If we are serious in dealing with corruption in Nigeria, we must sanitize the Local Government Administration and make it responsive, responsible and accountable to the people of Nigeria.