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By Mike Nwadiogo
One of the aberrations of our 25 years of unbroken democracy is the deliberate negation of the third tier of government by successive greedy state governors. In the 25 years of our democratic march, the governors have sidelined the local government system, meant to bring governance and development nearer the people. When the local government administration enjoyed some measure autonomy and functioned effectively during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the 774 councils were centres of socio-economic development, the rural-urban migration was very low and the rural communities were secure.
The local government system worked effectively for some years under Obasanjo because the councils’ allocations were sent to them directly instead of the present corruption-ridden joint account of the state and the local governments. But after Obasanjo, the ubiquitous joint account of state and local governments, which enabled the governors to warehouse local government funds, held sway to the detriment of development in the 774 local government areas. Under our nascent democratic experimentation, the third tier of government has been overtly abused, negated and even annihilated. In place of becoming centres of development, local governments become centres of sharing local government allocation.
In fact, the local governments’ funds become the pocket money of our governors. Most of the governors don’t care holding elections in the councils, which the 1999 Nigerian Constitution prescribes. They prefer having caretaker committees, made up of political stooges and praise singers of the administration. Setting up a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the local government is illegal and unknown to the Constitution. And where they conduct an election, the party in power wins all the seats. Sadly, the various State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) have allegedly been complicit in ensuring that the party in power wins all local government seats. This alone has undoubtedly undermined democracy at the grassroots level and emasculated political inclusion and plurality of ideas.
The death of local government system, one of the worst outcomes of our 25 years of unbroken democracy, has unfortunately exacerbated poverty and insecurity in Nigeria beyond our imagination. Speaking recently at a forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions in Abuja, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, claimed that the governors have reduced local government election to “a mere coronation of the candidates of the ruling parties.”
In other words, the governors have not allowed SIECs to conduct credible elections at the local government level. What Yakubu said is not novel. Nigerians know that the governors have not and cannot allow credible conduct of local government polls. They don’t want the local government system to be democratic and accountable because it will curb their appetite for greed. Without a strong SIEC, the survival of the local government system is doomed.
Although former President Muhammadu Buhari administration tried to rescue the councils from the dictatorship of the governors by insisting that the federal allocations go directly to the councils, not much was achieved in that direction. It did not work because Buhari did not give it enough push. He did so probably to please his party men and followers. Following Buhari’s failure to restore the councils’ autonomy, the impunity of the governors continued unabated to the detriment of the third tier of government. The local government system exists only in name. It has long died. The greedy governors killed the local government system because of their selfishness.
Therefore, the present effort by President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to restore local government autonomy is a product of good thinking. It is equally a good decision that the Federal Government has dragged the 36 state governors to the Supreme Court over unlawful dissolution of elected local government officials and to ensure full autonomy for the local governments. In the suit, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, asked “the apex court to invoke sections 1,4,5,7 and 14 of the Constitution to declare that the state governors and State Houses of Assembly are under obligation to ensure democratic system at the third tier of government.”
Fagbemi also wants “the apex court to invoke the same sections to hold that governors cannot lawfully dissolve democratically elected local government councils.” Other prayers include “that the Constitution of Nigeria recognizes federal, states and local governments as three tiers of government and that the three recognised tiers of government draw funds for their operation and functioning from the Federation Account created by the Constitution,” and “That by the provisions of the Constitution, there must be a democratically elected local government system and that the Constitution has not made provisions for any other systems of governance at the local government level other than democratically elected local government system.”
Every effort to restore autonomy at the local government level should be encouraged. A functional local government system will ensure the development of the rural areas, reduce poverty and enhance security.
The 1999 Constitution is very explicit about the existence of the third tier of government. Section 7 (1) of the Constitution clearly states: “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the Government of every State shall subject to section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.” Unfortunately, the governors have serially breached this constitutional provision on the existence of a democratically elected local government. However, in granting autonomy to the local governments, the government must ensure that the chairmen don’t become another set of emperors, who will siphon the wealth of the local people for their selfish needs.
We had passed through this route before. Having powerful chairmen will undermine the local government system in the way the governors have ruined them. This pitfall must be avoided in the new attempt to restore autonomy to the local governments. Perhaps each local government should have a committee of eminent persons including traditional rulers to supervise the affairs of the local administration.
Freeing the local governments from the stranglehold of greedy state governors and ensure their autonomy is a step in the right direction. Steadying the third tier of government by the present administration is cheering. Having democratically elected government at the third tier of government will ensure speedy development of the rural areas. Having a functional local government system means that their economic activities will be boosted.
It will revamp the collapsing primary school education. It also means that more jobs will be created with the construction of more rural roads. It will lead to development of rural agriculture and stabilizing the nation’s food security and boosting non-oil exports. It also means the improvement of the health care delivery system of the rural people. The restoration of the local government system will be the easiest route to fight rural poverty and lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty. It will definitely help to reduce the general insecurity in the rural areas and possession of some Nigerian territories by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and non-state actors.
