Compliments of the Easter season to all our Christian brethren as I wish all of us the glories of the Lenten period. May the blessings associated with the 40 days of fasting and supplication abide by us all and our country Nigeria. It is a mixture of happiness and grief at the conclusion of this year’s Lent when the Head of Catholic Church and the Sovereign of the Vatican City signed out of all earthly duties on the 21st day of April, 2025. I hence use this medium to commiserate with the Papacy and the entire Christendom on the demise of Pope Francis. May the soul of the righteous rest in the bosom of his Creator.
Today, I am still interrogating the issue of grassroots development via the local government system as structured in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
This tier of government has been my pre-occupation in the past many years due to its significance to good governance and ensuring that development reaches the downtrodden. It is the third tier of government in Nigeria notwithstanding some political postulations of some writers that would rather see it as a mere administrative structure and not strictly as a tier of government. such view is based on the contention that many have about what actually amounts to federalism and how many levels of government it actually must have.
While that may be correct in some other climes based on the nature of the Constitution prevalent therein, the definition or description of federalism in Nigeria may not be consistent with what is popular or applicable in some other climes. This is more correct based on the profound perception of the drafters of the Constitution who, in Section 318 thereof, defines the word “government” to include “the Government of the Federation, or of any state, or of a local government council or any person who exercises power or authority on its behalf”.
In that regard, an entity referred to as a government by the Constitution cannot be derided by describing it as less than a government but mere administrative appendage. Whatever is the manner of provision of such an entity by the Constitution, it is still a government and, in this regard, we must regard it as a tier of government strictly speaking. The above provision has its antecedent in Section 277 of the defunct 1979 Constitution which was given an interpretation consistent with our view here in the case of Nkwi v. Pankshin Local Government reported in (1987) 3 NWLR (Pt. 62) 726. Be that as it may, the local government as a third tier of government has been very unfortunate in the hands of politicians in Nigeria.
It has been the toy in the hands of State Governors who see it as a means of feathering their personal nests and subjecting the masses to misgovernance. The purpose of bringing governance closer to the grassroots for which local government administration was constitutionally established has been wiped off. For some time now, Nigerians, across board, seem to have agreed that there is no governance, much less development, at the grassroots due to the inept leadership at that level. At a point, the excuse was that funds meant for the local government are usually misappropriated by the State Governors.
This triggered the apex court judgment directing that the funds be remitted directly to the accounts of the local government councils. Regrettably, till date, this has not happened as all manner of tactics are being deployed by the Governors towards frustrating the realization of the judgment. The most potent, beyond unlawful removal of the helmsmen of the Councils, is the determination of party candidature for the purpose of filling those positions.
The Governors largely determine who gets the party ticket and to that extent command loyalty of the chosen ones. This is part of the challenges we have with our electoral laws particularly, vis-a-vis leadership at the local government level. Recall that even where unpopular candidates are chosen, they are as good as having won the election as what transpires largely under the various State “Independent” Electoral Commissions is nothing but daylight robbery.
Written results are merely announced to the public in many places where there are no elections. Chairmen of State Electoral Commissions are often partisan members of the ruling party in the State and where such is not even the case, whoever is chosen as Chairman of an Electoral Commission by the Governor may want to prove to be more loyal than the registered members of the party themselves. It is in the light of this that loyalty is to the appointor rather than the people that are meant to have purportedly elected the local government executives. In search of stooges, lackeys and bootlickers to preside over the affairs of local governments, Governors sacrifice merit, qualification and the desire to really serve. Commitment to service and knowledge of governance take the back stage when it comes to determining who occupies the local government seat. This has led to minions and less desirable elements assuming the seat of leadership at the third tier of government.
The missing gap therefore is the enthronement of internal democracy for the purpose of electing the leaders at the grassroots level. Beyond mere wish, we need men of quality thinking to lead at the grassroots level. Men who, within the ambits of the law, can deploy foresight to providing good governance by utilizing the resources available to create wealth, both human and material. Beyond the law mandating it, we need credible members of the Commission that can enforce it, just as we require independent courts to uphold it. Except this is done, we should as well say good bye to any meaningful leadership at the Local Government level. Now that the Lagos State Local Government election is upcoming too, the leadership in the State needs to strive towards the attainment of this standard if it requires impactful leadership at the Local Government level.
It is quite unfortunate that due to this seemingly intractable gap, advocacy is now being made for the centralization of Local Government elections alsowhich many people feel is inconsistent with the doctrines and principles on which federalism is built.
However, it is anomalies like the ones foisted on the nation that make people detour from universally accepted definitions of concepts and ideas. Undoubtedly this negates the principle of federalism but what can we do in the face of the frustration at hand? We all need to interrogate this.Furthermore, is the fact that with the decision of the Supreme Court upholding and entrenching the independence of the local government councils, the amount of funds that will now be coming directly to the third tier of government is overwhelming that many of the miscreants placed in offices by the Governors would see this as an open-sesame to riches.
Such mentality must be nipped otherwise we have only created an opportunity for some thieves to enrich themselves at the expense of the masses. Allocations coming from the Federation to the State Governments and the local governments in the past two years have been calling for scrutiny by the people. It will be a waste of noble efforts where some miscreants are allowed to pilfer these allocations and funnel them into personal indulgence and lunacy, good governance and the masses will be the ultimate victims. At this point, it is crucial for the people to ask questions and monitor the people in government.
They must demand accountability and probity. They must subject governance to scrutiny. When your Chairman is living an opulent life beyond his income, you must ask questions and call the attention of the anti-corruption agencies to this development. They have the authority to question him on his source of livelihood vis-à-vis the standard. The huge federal allocations coming to the local governments are not meant to finance the indulgences of the executives or their cronies. No idle populace profits from good governance as such is not given a la carte. It is a product of a symbiotic relationship between the people and the mode of governance they actually desire.
The local government,being the closest to the people, is often a subject of abuse by the people themselves who believe that the executives in government must pander to their sense of entitlement. The idea of expecting the Chairman of the local government to bankroll a constituent’s wedding or child naming ceremony; financing funeral ceremony of a miserable thug’s deceased father or mother-in-law; paying school fees of children he never fathered, must all stop.
We must allow the government to do its work by providing free education for all, good healthcare for all, provision of full employment for all towards eradicating poverty in our society. All the requirements of healthy and good living by the people must be provided by the people who are elected to lead us but we can only allow them achieve this when those idle dependents are sent out to work and earn a living. No one should make politics his job as such individuals contribute nothing to the commonwealth.
They only live on the purse of the community and the people. Such a system can never guarantee good governance. Without all these, we are not ready as a people to live as humans that we claim to be. The net effect of all that I am saying is that it is either we desire the operation of local government councils or we abolish them totally. It is meaningless to have them constitutionally recognized while they impact nothing. This is the position we have reached on this issue.