Yakubu Busari
The Plateau State Chapter of Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees ,NULGE, has restated commitment to the gross neglect, and political abuse of the system , of the 3rd tier of government is one of the reasons why the nation is where it is in terms of development especially at the grassroot level were health ,education ,infrastructural decay is greeting our under developed rural communities .
However ,local government is the closest and most accessible government to the rural populace . But unfortunately, that governance stratum, in Nigeria, is in a mess as it has been reduced to the level subservience by other levels of government such as the federal .
Steve Alukodaniel lamented that the state Governors are ripping big . They have been subdued and pocketed by their various state governments arm-twisting and misappropriating their statutory allocation leaving them with zero allocation to mimics with .
According to him ,the situation has become unbelievable in most states today is a deliberate policy that denies the local governments political and financial autonomy.
He also believes that the insecurity in the country is perverted by politician at the present alarming rate were the local government system has been grossly neglected completely from the economic growth leading unabated crisis.
Speaking further ,he stressed that the major threat to the financial autonomy of local governments in Nigeria can be found in the sub-sections of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended).
Sub-section (5) says, “The amount standing to the credit of Local Government Councils in the Federation Account shall also be allocated to the State for the benefit of their Local Government Councils on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”
Pointing out that , according to sub-section (6), “Each State shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocations to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State.”
Sub-section (7) states, “Each State shall pay to Local Government Councils in its area of jurisdiction such proportion of its total revenue on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.” While sub-section (8) says, “The amount standing to the credit of the Local Government Councils of a state shall be distributed among the Local Government Councils of that state on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of the state. ”
Comrade Steve raised concerned that the only solutions out of this quagmire is for the local governments have a comprehensive amendment of the Constitution. If the amendment is approved, it will go a long way to strengthen governance, accountability and service delivery across the local government system .
He decried that with political amendment will that can help, to strengthen primary education ,health ,road construction through improved funding that will entail joint contribution from the states and local governments as against the current abdication by states.
Out of the states that enacted LG autonomy only 44 alteration bills was sent which the National Assembly transmitted to the 36 State Houses of Assembly in March 2022 for concurrence.
The bills deal with major issues on development, governance, politics and the economy. It touches on issues which include the abrogation of the state and local government joint account, financial independence of state legislatures and judiciary.
What is required is a simple majority in at least 24 states out of the 36 State Houses of Assembly. Unfortunately, only seven out of the 36 states have passed the local government autonomy. They are Abia, Anambra, Delta, Katsina, Kogi, Ogun and Osun.
According to report, Lagos State rejected local government autonomy. While the remaining 28 other states are yet to decide on the issue.
However, feedback from the states, shows that Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Niger and Oyo are likely to pass the LG autonomy bill. Adamawa and Nasarawa states may pass financial autonomy and reject administrative autonomy. And of what use will that be?
The fact remains that attaining local government autonomy is key to sustainable grassroots development. This why we consider it disheartening that almost all the candidates running for elections in 2023 are avoiding the issue of LG autonomy like leprosy or any other plague for that matter. Of all the 18 political parties, only one has passively mentioned the issue in its economic development action for the country.
In our view, the electorate should only vote for candidates that will ensure local government autonomy. As the general election draws closer, Nigerians should vote only politicians that have a clear agenda to liberate the local government system by granting them the full administrative and financial autonomy.
It is imperative to state, in our opinion, that this is not a favour but a duty if the rural population is to have an opportunity to experience development in the real sense of the term. What is going on now at that level of development structure is tokenism that is unacceptable.
He explained further that the gathering of union leader and all the civil society organization today at Secretariat junction mark the turning point demand for a better democracy and rule of law .
Steve harps on the current bad leadership and under development ravaging the states ,we must educate and enlighten our electorate to wisely vote those that support the LG autonomy to attract credible election and end insecurity .
