Worried by the brazen mismanagement of the whopping N40 trillion allocated to the 774 local governments (LGs) and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has tasked the 36 state governors and the minister of the FCT to account for how the money was disbursed since in 1999. Since the advent of this democratic dispensation, the management of local government allocation between the states and the councils has been very contentious and riddled with corruption.
Whether the federal government’s allocation is given to the LGs directly or through the State/LG joint account, the disbursement of the fund is still riddled with corruption. However, the corruption is more when state governors do not have elected officials in the councils as it is presently the case in almost all the states. This is why many Nigerians have called for direct allocation of the LG allocation to the elected officials of the councils.
They have also insisted for having elected officials to superintend the affairs of the councils instead of the present appointment of sole administrators of the councils or caretaker committees. During the era of President Olusegun Obasanjo, LG allocation was given directly to the councils for some years before it was channeled through the State/LG joint account because of opposition from state governors. Since the era of the State/LG joint account, many governors run the affairs of the councils as their private estate with little or no governance at the grassroots level of governance.
The absence of elected officials at the councils has led to brazen mismanagement of LG funds by state governors and their cronies. This can explain why state governors don’t bother to conduct local government elections as prescribed by the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended). Lack of governance at the third tier of government can account for widespread hunger and insecurity across the country. The trillions of naira allocated to the councils over the years might have been misappropriated or looted by politicians to the detriment of the people at that level of governance. It is no longer a surprise that there is absence of development in most of the local governments across the country. Due to rising insecurity, some local governments have been taken over by non-state actors. It is probably this ugly development that prompted former President Muhammadu Buhari to in December 2022 press for direct allocation of LG funds to the chairmen of the councils.
The opacity in the disbursement of LG allocation has prompted SERAP to urge the governors and the FCT minister to disclose “details of federal allocations meant for local governments in their states and the FCT, and the actual disbursement of allocations to the local governments since the return of democracy in 1999.”
The claim by SERAP is weighty enough to be investigated by the anti-graft agencies. The amount of money involved is too much to be glossed over. The matter must not be swept under the carpet as is the usual practice in this part of the world. If the fund were adequately disbursed and utilised, it would have gone a long way in the transformation and development of the rural areas.
Therefore, we call for urgent reforms of the local government system to make it more efficient and effective. The time has come to grant financial autonomy to the councils with a credible committee to manage the affairs of the councils. The State/LG joint account should be abrogated because it has become a cesspool of corruption. Unfortunately, the local government has ceased to be the centre of development it was envisaged to be because of the avarice of our politicians.
While the governors are financially emasculating the councils, the people in the rural areas are suffering and grappling with untold hardship. The functions of the third tier of government to the people have been utterly abandoned. As the nearest government to the people, governance at that tier of government should be made to work.
We believe that having efficient governance at the local government level will immensely curb the rising insecurity, hunger and poverty across the country. The seeming fritting away of LG allocations is a great disservice to Nigerian people.