Fred Doc Nwaozor
Local Government (LG), otherwise known as the third tier of government, can be defined as a political structure under the state authority, established for a sole intent of decentralizing political power and delegation of authority. It is a platform under local committees towards maintaining law and order based on range of social amenities and to encourage cooperation and participation of people at the grassroots in order to improve their living conditions.
Based on the 1976 Local Government Reforms, the Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulated the fundamental motives for establishing its LG. They are: to make appropriate services and development activities responsive to local wishes and initiatives by developing or delegating such services to local representative bodies; to facilitate and bring the exercise of democratic self-governance close to the local levels of our society, and to encourage initiative and leadership potentials among the people; as well as, to mobilize human and material resources through the involvement of member of the general public in their local government, and to provide a two-way channel of communication between local communities.
The aforementioned background has made it clear that the LG system was established solely to take democracy to the grassroots, where there is high level of vulnerable individuals. LG has, for a very long time, been regarded as the training ground for democracy. Hence, over the years, since inception, the system has been linked with the desire to promote grassroots democracy. In other words, people have learnt to see it as the last hope of a common man when issues concerning governance are discussed.
In Nigeria, the LG system has taken different forms from one period to the other. The country had the pre-colonial experiences culminating in several traditional political systems. During the said era, such level of government was being run via the effort of the traditional rulers or warrant chiefs, as the case might be. Thereafter, there had been series of reforms in the country’s LG system. The 1976 Reform and the 1979 Constitution provided the premise on which the current LG administration was established.
It’s noteworthy that the LG structure comprises the councilors and the chairman of the council. The councilors are drawn from each political ward in the given LG, and they constitute the local Legislative Council of that area while the chairman is the chief executive officer of the council area. The legislative council is liable to make laws as well as reach resolutions towards the wellbeing of the members of the council.
By the establishment of the LG system, the people at the various council areas are expected to have direct access to the government through their respective councilors. The councilors are required to listen to the yearnings of their constituents, and convey such demands to the council chairman for apt action to be taken. With the aid of this platform, the people find it very easy to freely relate to the government.
However, it’s pertinent to note that lately, owing to financial instability, among other anomalies, the various LG administrations across the country had not fared well. In most cases, state governors tend to boycott or truncate the allocations meant for running of the LG. Since the LG structure lacks financial autonomy, the administrators are often denied their lawful entitlements. This approach, which has succeeded in abusing the system, has over the years made the platform moribund.
The most devastating aspect is a situation where the governor of a state would prefer to set up transition/caretaker committees to man the various local government councils rather than conducting elections that would produce elective officers meant to manage the LGs. This impasse, which is taking place in most states across the federation, ends up making the appointed personnel appear like the governor’s aides when they are constitutionally expected to act as chief executive officers. This is unarguably one of the greatest abuses of the LG system.
For the LG system to be viable once again the Nigerian 1999 Constitution needs to be amended towards addressing some lingering anomalies. The elections of the prospective LG administrators should be conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), contrary to the ongoing routine whereby each state is entitled to conduct the said polls via its electoral agency. This measure would enable the election to be conducted as and when due without experiencing all manners of frivolous postponements and what have you, as currently witnessed in most states.
Similarly, financial autonomy should be granted to the various LGs so that they can access their funds directly from the federation account as well as enable them to operate independent accounts. Before now, I wasn’t an advocate of the quest for a financial autonomy, but since it has become obvious that the system cannot properly perform if it remains under the state government, it’s needless to continue beating about the bush. To ensure credibility and prudence over management cum utilization of funds, the various anti-corruption agencies in the country must tactically extend their tentacles to the LG level.
The LG chairmen and councilors, as to be stipulated in the proposed amendment, ought to be mandated to reside at their respective LGAs, particularly at the headquarters. They must discontinue residing outside their respective LGs. Restructuring the LG system is one of the paramount ways of quitting the ongoing recession.
Comrade Nwaozor is Chief Executive Director, Centre for Counselling, Research
& Career Development, Owerri. Email: [email protected]
