Our local councils are now tied in the neck and strangled by the governors with the long and strong rope provided by the 1999 Constitution: the joint account. Capitalising on this and the ample power they possess over the electoral process in the local government, governors ensure that LGs remain like an appendage to them. LG chairmen act like errand boys who see their mandates as just to please their bosses to maintain political relevance and benefits. The goliath power of the governors has laid LGs into their graves.
Last week, the Nigerian Senate lamented how LG autonomy has been taken from them which usurped them of their functions, financially starved them and crippled the rural communities. The Senate urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to collaborate with them and other stakeholders in revitalising the LGs through amending the constitution and the Electoral Act.
Notwithstanding the fact that some of the Senate members were former governors, who were at the forefront of the practice that has today robbed the LGs of their essentiality, it is a welcome move from the Senate.
Today, Nigerians suffer from numerous problems and hardships – tough and harsh government policies, insecurity, diseases and environmental hazards. More than 45.7 per cent of Nigerians live in the rural areas and many of the people trooping into the urban areas are from rural areas searching for greener posture. So, the president should seize this opportunity to alleviate the pain of his harsh policies that have crippled the economy of millions of households in the country.
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Through amendment of the constitution, LG councils could access their grants from the federation account as provided by the constitution. The Nigerian constitution divides the country into three tiers of government and provides them with resources for such functions. However, the LGs despite being saddled with numerous and important functions, has been denied of the means to carry out such functions – credit to the greedy state governors for maximally abusing the joint account.
Now LGs councils have been financially handicapped. They cannot initiate any important project that can impact the lives of the rural people. Meanwhile, the governors who hold the money use it for campaign, luxury and reward for political patronage. Consequently, today administration and governance in rural areas has gone into extinction, people are living in poverty, squalor and insecurity.
In addition, amending the electoral act also can strengthen grassroots democracy and reduce the overwhelming power of the governors over the LGs. As suggested by the Senate, handing over LGs elections to INEC could reduce the influence of the governors over the LGs. Regular and periodic election will be held in the LGs. It will do away with systematic delays and absolute power to determine who becomes chairman of the LG council by the governors.
So, through this, rural communities will be revived. LG chairmen will be able to carry out certain developmental projects which would impact the lives of the rural people while elected councillors could also do a lot in their communities. Above all, people in the rural communities will be able to see the government and feel it. This is because chairmen and councillors are the closest to the community members. They are very well-known and readily accessible to the local people. There will be democracy in the local communities – both rural and urban areas.
It is true that there is corruption and poor administration in the LGs in Nigeria, however, that does not warrant the dispossession of the LGs of their functions, financial starvation and the consequential crippling of the rural communities. If this will be reversed it will revitalise the rural communities, reduce the pressure on other tiers of government and enhance our democracy in the grassroots.
Sule Isyaku Ado is a student of the Department of Public Administration, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, [email protected]
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