September 10, (THEWILL) – The demand for local government autonomy has been in the front burner for many years now and its advocates have expressed dissatisfaction with the domination and exploitation of the Chief Executive of the third tiers of government by state governors through the administration of the State/Local Governments Joint Account System.
The Nigerian Constitution under section 162(6) provided for the establishment of a State Joint Local Account (SJLGA). The account is meant to be a mechanism that can implement the notion of ‘fiscal federalism’ at the local government level.
However, most of the state governments made some unnecessary deductions and more often diverted the funds to other areas of personal interest, while the money was meant for the development of local government areas, and this contributed significantly to the abysmal performance of local governments in providing good governance for the community.
THEWILL recalls that the 9th National Assembly listed financial and legislative autonomy for local governments as one of the proposed legislations, but it was not approved by the state assemblies.
Penultimate week, the issue of local government autonomy came up again when the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, Wale Adedayo, accused Governor Dapo Abiodun of withholding the statutory Federal Allocation due to the state’s local government councils in the last two years.
“Since we (Ogun State Local Government Chairmen) got on board in 2021, it has been ZERO Federal Allocation to each local government,” Adedayo alleged, in a letter addressed to former Governor, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, penultimate Sunday.
In the letter, Adedayo said, “Your urgent intervention is sorely needed to convince the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun that the statutory Federal Allocation to local government areas in Ogun State should be allowed to reach each of them as envisaged by the 1999 Constitution. Since we (Ogun State Local Government Chairmen) got on board in 2021, there has been ZERO Federal Allocation to each local government. Ten per cent of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue, which the Constitution also stipulated should go to the local government areas, has not been given since Abiodun assumed office.
“Now, the negative consequences of Zero Federal Allocations to local government councils in Ogun State should be clear for all to see. We should not have lost the last elections in all the places where we did during the Governorship and House of Assembly polls IF our local government areas were being funded as provided for in the 1999 Constitution. I am not proud to say that we (local government chairmen) have done very little or NOTHING since we were sworn in because the funds to work with are being withheld by Mr Governor.
“Former President Muhammadu Buhari assisted the states and local government areas with what we call palliatives today. They called it SURE-P. The first sent to the 20 local government areas in Ogun State was N2.5 billion. The second one was N2.6 billion. The third was N2.8 billion, while the fourth, shortly before Buhari left office, was N2.9 billion. Not a dime of these funds was released to ANY local government area in Ogun State. The Ogun State Executive Committee of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) had a meeting with the Commissioner for Finance, Mr Dapo Okubadejo, early this year. The Commissioner claimed that the 20 local government areas were owing the Ogun State Government N17 billion, which they continue to deduct. But I know for a fact that my Ijebu East Local Government is NOT owing Abeokuta one Naira!
“We’ve also heard of ecological funds and others. These have developed wings without a trace, too. It is certain that the current one being packaged by President Bola Tinubu may likely follow the same course. And we are the ones the people will abuse. I am the butt of jokes in my local government aream right now, with many saying one is incompetent.
“Truly, denying local government areas their due Federal Allocations in Ogun State began during the administration of former Governor Ibikunle Amosun. And, as it is happening today, it was based on a spurious claim of helping some local government areas, who may not be able to fulfill their obligations to the people because of financial challenges. Thus, all the funds are regularly collected into a central purse from where salaries and other dues are paid. Whatever that is left is often claimed by the state government as debts being paid by the local government councils.
“Revenue sources, which the local governments should benefit from, have mostly been taken over by the state government. Motor Parks and attendant dues, which should go to each local government area, are being centrally managed by the state government. Primary school administration and control have been taken over, too. There are many others. But what I crave is for you to assist in helping our people.
“In Ijebu East Local Government Area, we have a complete rural section. Our people need roads, especially in the interior. They need water. The Health Centres are nothing to write home about. The primary schools are something else. It is a crying shame that, in 2023 some of our people still depend on water from the stream to drink! Great Awo provided pipe borne water almost 60 years ago!”
Adedayo, who has since been suspended by the legislative arm of his council, arrested by the DSS and only recently released, may be seen as one of the bravest of the local government chairmen as others have accepted to suffer in silence as they fear the governors who behave like emperors.
However, rather than receive commendation, Adedayo has been guillotined by his colleagues for daring to look the governor in the face.
The reality is that in most states of the federation, governors have hijacked council funds, and this has led to the general failure of governance at the local government area.
Nigerians have not seen any positive development in the council areas in recent times despite huge allocation allotted to them from Abuja.
Hitherto, works of the council areas, such as building of market stalls, patching of roads, maternity centres ‘maintenance, have been taken over by the state governments.
Although Governor Abiodun has denied the allegation, explaining that he had on several occasions given extra funds to local government councils in the state to meet their operations, many local government chairmen in the country are suffering and smiling, as governors denied them their allocation.
The desperation of state governors in controlling the financing of the local government councils have made most of them to introduce the Local Government Caretaker System where their cronies are appointed to run the affairs of the councils, instead of conducting elections to appoint local council managers.
Also, where elections are conducted to elect the local government chairmen, the ruling party in the states desperately maneuvres the elections and ensured that it wins in all the local government areas through the manipulation of the state electoral commission.
The Governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, has also advocated the strengthening of local government areas, based on the unique needs of each state.
Soludo made this call while speaking on national television.
Asked about his stance on granting autonomy to local government areas, Soludo said, “Guaranteeing what the constitution says is one thing and whether what is in the constitution is efficient is another thing.
“In Anambra, we rely on the LGA to drill down whatever we are doing; we are cascading a lot of the responsibilities to LGAs and we will continue to strengthen. There is no absolute autonomy anywhere — there is a need to coordinate.
“Each federating unit (state) should determine the kind of local government it wants, rather than the constitution imposing a unitary LG system on all the states.”
Wando, who is Borno State born, noted that while local government corruption is a global problem not unique to Nigeria, it is nevertheless crucial to address.
Former President Muhamamdu Buhari had said that corrupt state governors collect funds on behalf of local government officials and remit only half of the money collected to them.
Local government employees have also accused state governors of misappropriating funds collected on their behalf from the federation account and, in some cases, stealing the funds meant for the local government.
The situation above has led to calls for local government autonomy, which means that the local government authorities no longer want to be at the mercy of state governments.
Many analysts have expressed the opinion that local government administration in Nigeria needs to be reviewed for them to be able to carry out their constitutional roles.
Adelaja Adeoye, public affairs analyst and politician, said that rather than frequently having head on collusion with state governors, local government chairmen should push for full implementation of autonomy, which will legally empower them to function not as an appendage, but as a fully functional executive tier of government in Nigeria.
Abiodun Omolegan, a lawyer, said there must be a cancellation of the joint account of the state and local government, just as he insisted on autonomy for local government as the best thing for this country. He called on the 10th National Assembly to make laws that will give more powers to the third tier of government.
“I think part of the thing we need to do is that the state electoral body should be stripped of the responsibility of conducting elections into councils.
“That bill failed during the last amendment by the National Assembly, but it is very important if we want to free them from the governors, let INEC be conducting LG election,” Omolegan added.
Sola Ogundimu, a political analyst, said the failure of councils, partly account for the high poverty and infrastructural neglect in the rural areas across Nigeria.
“There was a reason why the local government was set up and you can see that this system has failed. I strongly believe that is why we have high infrastructural neglect and poverty among our people in the rural areas.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
