From Paul Orude, Bauchi
Former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Gashua, Professor Andrew Haruna, has said that uneducated people should be discouraged from hold elective offices in local governments in Nigeria to improve governance at the grassroots level.
Haruna, made this known in a paper entitled Local Governance in Nigeria: Changing the Narrative, which he presented at the Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State.
The former VC, who is currently a Visiting Professor at the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja, argued that that the local government system currently operated in Nigeria as a democratic institution is weak in its capacity to deliver social services at the grassroots.
He therefore opined that to bring about the desired grassroots development in Nigeria, it is expedient to explore ways of changing the narrative or reinventing local to make it a viable tool for grassroots development in Nigeria.
“Another way of changing the narrative is to discourage uneducated persons in local governance in Nigeria,” he argued.
“Prospective aspirants to political office(s) (elected and appointed) must be people with good jobs, legitimate and sufficient source(s) of living. A paradigm shift from any qualification to those seeking political office in Nigeria should be made to have at least a National Diploma/Degree in Public Administration, Local Government Administration or Political Science.
“This will not only promote good governance; it will equally accelerate development in the country”
He argued that practical solutions are needed to address the problems of local government administration in the country.
“These include: the expansion of democratic space, the entrenchment of democratic culture and the promotion of good governance, transparency and accountability; amendment of the fourth schedule of the 1999 constitution to stop interference in local government activities,” he stated.
“Encourage enlightenment programmes at the local level, and renaissance of interest in patriotism in citizens to fight corruption, then local governments in Nigeria will be more effective”
The Professor of Languages and Linguistics argues that paradigm shifts means a departure from bureaucratic rule based governance to collaborative/participative result-oriented administration.
“Administrators can no longer be regarded as bureaucrats tied to a desk, a routine and smug acceptance of the existing order of things,” he pointed out
“They would rather have to be treated as dynamic, cultural, social and development agents.
“From the foregoing, it shows that local governance is not static and unchangeable. But, it changes within the context of changing philosophy of the local needs, objectives of government, values of man, the lofty ambitions and desires of a new man and a new society”