Controversy about the autonomy of the local government system in Nigeria has been there but it has received more sparks as a result of the ongoing constitution amendment being undertaken by the National Assembly. It is all too obvious that the greatest snags to the realisation of local government autonomy are the state governors.
The state governors, under the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, have left no stone unturned in their efforts at frustrating any move by the National Assembly to allow the local government, including the State Houses of Assembly, to maintain autonomous status. Part of the dubious arguments of state governors is that, since they have taken over payment of teachers’ salaries across the country, local governments have no need of such powers as funds being released to them are flippantly spent by local government chairmen, as if the governors are saints.
Of course, this wholesale allegation did not go down well with the national secretariat of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, ALGON.
The leadership of ALGON under Chief Nwabueze Okafor had once returned the salvo, suggesting that the state governments are pariahs throttling grassroots development in Nigeria. For the local government administration to function effectively in Nigeria, Chief Okafor said it needs to be totally independent and devoid of undue interference from the governors. “We are for local government autonomy”, he vehemently declared.
In her submission, a scribe of ALGON, Hon Ngozika Ihuoma, thinks there are no sincere efforts even by lawmakers to liberate the local government.
“We have observed that the legislature at both the federal (NASS) and states (SHA) have embarked on ‘legislative fraud’ when it comes to the issue of Local Government Fund. First was the Source Deduction by the Federal Government, which diverted over 83% of Local Government Fund to NPEC from 1994 – 2002.
“Secondly, the various State Houses of Assembly have established State Joint Local Government Account Allocation Laws and created ‘First Line Charges’ to divert local government funds to agencies, bodies and individuals not known to the Constitution”. This is the sad reality in our country today.
As the third tier of government, the local government system is constitutionally empowered to exist as an independent entity, just like states and federal governments. Therefore, there is no basis for any state governor to arrogate powers to disburse funds on behalf of the council for any reason, remove duly elected council chairmen, postpone, cancel and conduct council elections at their pleasures. That responsibility has already been defined by the constitution.
We therefore support the move by the Senate Committee on the review of the constitution which has recommended paying of council funds directly into their accounts, rather than into the criminal state-local government joint account.
It is also a good idea to stop funding any local government whose leaders are not democratically elected. No matter how the arguments go, the local government must necessarily maintain a reasonable level of financial autonomy to function, especially in terms of developing the rural areas.
It is not sensible that the councils should be so abandoned in terms of provision of basic amenities like water, feeder roads, clinics, schools, among others. This is more so, since the state governments would neither develop them nor allow them financial autonomy to develop on their own.