The recent passage of the Bill for local government autonomy by the National Assembly has been generating a lot of reactions. CECILIA OGEZI in this report takes a look at some of the reactions
O
n Tuesday, 6 November 2018, the National Assembly granted full financial and administrative autonomy to all the 774 local government areas across the country by amending section 124 of the 1999 constitution.
The section provides a consequential provision for the making of the local councils, a full third tier government without undue interference from the state governments.
The amendment was one of the 22 others approved by the House of Representatives and ratified by the Senate.
Both chambers had through a conference committee harmonised versions of the amendments in the constitution carried out separately by each chamber.
By that development, the National Assembly had ratified all the 23 clauses and sections that had been amended by both chambers.
Since 1976, 1979, 1989 and 1999, local government reforms had always tried to make local government the bedrock of national politics in a much more relevant perspective than the present arrangement where the local government is perceived as an appendage of the state.
The newly amended document which would be sent to State Houses of Assembly, for approval, also approved the creation of the Office of Auditor – General of the Local Government as well as the Local Government Service Commission.
The section equally deleted the State Independent Electoral Commission from the constitution thereby vesting the powers to conduct council elections on the Independent National Electoral Commission.
Over the years, efforts have been made towards democratizing the local government and making it more responsive to developmental needs but these have proved abortive.
The 1999 constitution recognises the existence of local government as the third tier of government after federal and state governments. The idea, since 1979, when the decree establishing it as a system of government was introduced into the constitution, was to bring government closer to the people and ensure effective service delivery to the rural areas. To achieve this aim, several local government reforms had been undertaken by different governments over the course of time.
Before now, the Senate passed a bill for an act to further alter the provision of the 1999 Constitution and for other matters connected therewith. The committee proposed a total of 31 clauses affecting 26 sections and second schedule of the 1999 constitution.
From the 31 clauses set out, 13 were passed while 10 did not scale through.
Among the ones not passed is the alteration of section 162 of the constitution to provide for direct payment to the local government from the federation account.
In the Senate, the debate on the local government autonomy witnessed glowing support and people were optimistic about granting autonomy to the local government.
Essentially, finance and leadership recruitment process are key areas of concern for any discourse on local government autonomy. Incidentally, these are the two areas most state governors are determined never to let go even when majority of the citizens are clamouring for freedom for local governments in those areas.
Autonomy and local democracy becomes possible if Nigeria’s development discourse, which is now being wholly influenced by internal and external forces looks inwards, to reflect local needs and aspirations and if the federal government, local and international non-governmental organizations and donors, who have the inclination to establish counter structures at the grassroots, agree that there is need for local leadership growth, capital accumulation, entrepreneurship and increased participation of people in grassroots governance.
The capacity of autonomy to serve as a pillar of local government that are accountable to the electorate and capable of promoting public goods and services equally entails a balance in macro and micro institutions of governance.
In view of the importance of local government as the bedrock of democracy, 148 local government areas were created in 1989 and 140 in 1991 in the effort to bring governance nearer to the grassroots.
Local government as a political authority set up by a nation or state as a subordinate authority for the purpose of dispersing or decentralising political power; the objective which is to make appropriate services and development activities responsive to local wishes by delegating them to local representatives.
These and other related proposals are before the State Houses of Assembly for them to concur with the National Assembly so that the amendments can take effect in the constitution.
Citizens, civil society organizations, traditional rulers, well-meaning politicians, and interestingly, two governors are all clamouring for true autonomy for local government. More so, the entire National Assembly has thrown its weight behind the proposal by doing the needful – concluding works on the proposed amendment and handing it over to the State Houses of Assembly for voting.
Those who are opposed to local government autonomy do have good reasons too. They argue that the local government is not technically a third tier of government. It is merely a politico-administrative province of the state governments. It is the responsibility of each state government. Ideally, a state government should decide the form and the system of local government best suited to its political and administrative needs.
The military created a constitutional problem since 1979 when they decided to define states by the composition of their local government areas. This has been used to argue, incorrectly, that states are not empowered by the constitution to create local governments because doing so would require a constitutional amendment. They argue that a newly created local government area is perfected only when the schedule is amended and it is listed therein among the local governments in the state that created it.
Read Also:
Analysts have examined topical issue of local government autonomy in Nigeria in relation to the development of the localities, the raison d’etre of local governments, as well as some dominant autonomy issues. These include representative local governments, the size of local governments, revenue, and personnel. It has discovered that inadequate handling of virtually all the above issues has posed some challenges for local governments’ developmental efforts in the localities. Other challenges include inadequate finances, weak intergovernmental relations, fledgling democracy and grand corruption. These must be adequately tackled for LGs to make more positive impact in the localities. Some pertinent recommendations are as follows. The advent of local government administration in Nigeria took off in an unpopular manner when it was vested in the hands of traditional authorities during the colonial era. Post-Independence era was followed with the importance of bringing the local government system to the limelight.
Nigeria’s case is cumbersome as it is heavily dependent on the National Assembly and its states counterparts for its development and is facing pressure exerted by Nigerian Union of Local Government Employee (NULGE) and concerned citizens for faster decision.
Granting full autonomy to the grassroots helps ensure the participation of the less empowered population in the planning, execution and monitoring of social and economic development.
National president, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Ibrahim Khaleel, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that local government being the closest tier of government to the people of any nation, deserves for it to be functional, vibrant and viable democratically, financially and administratively.
Khaleel noted that the local government is the only viable platform that provides opportunity for people to participate in democracy while also noting that local government assures of inclusive governance which according to him is a critical element that signifies good governance in place but has not been allowed to thrive due to interference from state governors.
“We cannot rule out the fact that the local government is the closest to the people and allows for participation of all in democracy, there is no substitute to it when you talk about inclusive governance,” he said.
Two former secretary generals of the United Nations, Kofi Anan and Ban Ki-Moon, at different times stated that a society where exclusiveness is the order of the day, that society will experience crisis, chaos and criminality.
Khaleel said: “The interference of state governors rendered our local governments impotent, the local government is enshrined in our constitution the 22 percent released from the federation account monthly for 774 local government areas is to cater for economic distributable wares which is set aside to bridge the gap in poverty but it is always dIverted by the state governors.
“Hijack of the process of financial autonomy by state governors is not good for the common man. Nigeria is so diverse in religions and many areas in order to ensure security that can only happen by ensuring intergovernmental mechanism by strengthening institutional framework of local government for responsibility of the local government to stay with the local government,” he said.
Khaleel pointed out that the campaign for local government autonomy is so that it can stand as the third tier of government and play its role in addressing and complimenting other security apparatus.
He added that NULGE as a body would continue its social responsibility to curb recklessness from local government chairman, he further stated that they were calling for useful constitutional reforms which according to him would be continuous in strengthening the institutions of government.
He noted that if approved local government autonomy would bring about the needed stability in government and address the problem of rural- urban migration.
“The cities are choked. If the local government is functioning, rural urban migration will reduce and it is so because there is no leadership to drive the process of exploiting the potentials in rural areas. Countries like the US and the UK have exploited it and it is working for them,” he said.
Chairman of Kwali area council in the Federal Capital Territory, Joseph Shazin, in his reaction to the new development, stated that any autonomy structure for local government is for the good of the people and an opportunity for the people to decide for themselves and appropriate for themselves what they have on the table.
Shazin who is also the chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) FCT chapter, noted that the prerequisites for a smooth running of the local government system is largely dependent on local government autonomy.
“Local government areas should be encouraged in various ways, especially in revenue generation and many of these are dependent on its autonomy,” he said; adding, “There is the need for relevant laws to be put in place to enable councils collect rates that have been in contention due to absence of laws backing them.”
Speaking on the benefits of financial autonomy for Local government areas, the chairman, National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Kuje chapter, Ibrahim Abdullahi Kabi, explained that the state joint account and State Independent Electoral Commission, (SIEC) have only encouraged interference and manipulation of finances of the local government thereby rendering the local government system incapacitated.
He added that the local government is closer to the grassroots and as such in the best position to influence development.
“We will resist any obstruction from the state governments to stop the smooth sail of the financial autonomy for local government areas.
“Our struggle for local government autonomy is not only for workers but also the entire system. We know it will improve development in the local government areas, workers and the entire citizenry will benefit,” he said.
He noted, however, that the union has a task ahead in holding the local government chairmen accountable, and urged that agencies to checkmate activities of the local government should be put in place.
He further explained that the approval of financial autonomy was one of the major issues discussed at the recent 40th anniversary of NULGE and expressed optimism that the President, Muhammadu Buhari would accent to the bill for the benefit of all and sundry.
On his part the NULGE secretary, Kuje chapter, Nimrod Koce, described the approval by National Assembly as a victory for tireless struggle for local government autonomy.
He expressed confidence that the chairmen were ripe for the responsibility coming their way. He further stated that it was however important to put in place proper mechanism for supervision to ensure judicious use of finances.
He added that there were numerous benefits when financial autonomy is granted local government areas.
“I think the chairmen will do excellently well. We are talking about bringing development down to the grassroots. The local governments have been short changed in a lot of ways and by this development there will be a reduction in rural-urban migration and improvement in human capacity development as well as healthcare delivery and access roads which will impact on agriculture greatly,” he said.
A staff of Kuje area council, Haruna D Kuje, affirmed that the approval for financial autonomy would affect everything.
