The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Autonomy

  • Fed lawmakers return to firm up Council autonomy process

    Fed lawmakers return to firm up Council autonomy process

    Senators and House of Representatives members returning from a six-week recess tomorrow will take immediate steps to give effect to the Supreme Court judgment on autonomy for local government; it was learnt at the weekend.

    Although some governors are fuming over the Supreme Court verdict, the lawmakers are determined to make the autonomy work.

    Apart from tinkering with the aspect of the constitution on the state/local government account, efforts are in top gear to pass the bill creating an independent electoral body to organise elections at the grassroots level.

    Other issues on the lawmakers’ agenda before the December break are: implementation of the N70,000 Minimum Wage and and accelerated passage of the 2025 Appropriation Bill likely to be transmitted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu next month.

    Legislative time will also be devoted to the flooding and its devastation in many parts of the country, especially in Maiduguri and some Northeast states.

    Read Also; Ofone!

    An oversight on states where the weather agencies have predicted would witness flooding is also expected so as to monitor preparation by affected states.

    The Senate last week donated N54million to assist victims of flooding in Borno State. Individual senators also donated various sums running into millions to the Borno State Government.

    According to Senate spokesman Adeyemi Adaramodu: “The Senate would on resumption, through legislation and oversight processes, see to the welfare of Nigerians.

    “The Senate would hold the bull by the horns to engender a revived economy and work on electoral reforms.

    “The Senate would ensure that the workers’ national minimum wage is realistically implemented.

    “The Senate shall equally deal robustly with the 2025 Appropriations Bill, to ensure that Nigerians get the best for an assured life more abundant.”

    The Senate Adhoc Committee on the Review of the Constitution would hold a two-day retreat in one of the northern states this weekend in furtherance of its assignment.

    Besides, the Chairman of the National Assembly and President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, hinted last week that the Senate would “tinker with the constitution” to give further legal verve to the autonomy granted local councils in the country by the Supreme Court.

    Akpabio gave this hint on Thursday  when he received members of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State, said to be loyal to the  erstwhile Interim National Secretary of the party, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, in Uyo.

    Already, a Bill seeking the establishment of a federal agency for the conduct of local government elections in Nigeria was passed for first reading in late July 2024, shortly before the red chamber commenced its annual vacation.

    The Bill titled: “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 531)” was sponsored by Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC – Niger East).

    The body will be saddled with the responsibility of conducting elections into the chairmanship and councilorship positions in the  774 local governments in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

    According to the proposed Bill, the NILGEC, when established, shall consist of a chairperson and six commissioners, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

    The chairperson and commissioners shall serve for a term of five years, renewable once.

    According to the bill, the NILGEC shall operate independently, free from external influence and interference, and the Commission shall have its budget, approved by the National Assembly, to ensure financial independence.

    Part of the Bill states that: “NILGEC shall operate independently, free from external influence and interference. The Commission shall have its budget, approved by the National Assembly, to ensure financial independence.”

    A source close to the leadership of the Senate said the Bill would be given accelerated consideration by both chambers just like it did on the New National Anthem Act and the Minimum Wage Act in line with President Tinubu’s desire to ensure a completely autonomous, stable and functional local government administration, and in line with his restructuring agenda for the country.

    The source explained further: “I think the game plan is if the National Assembly does not do anything the Supreme Court judgment on local government’s’ autonomy is like rubbish.

    “So there must be legislative backing and they want to do it like they did the National Anthem.

    “They want to create a national local government election body which will be separate from the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is believed to be overburdened with the task of conducting federal elections already.

    “So, they want to create a parallel electoral body for local governments as contained in a Bill before the Senate and later reflect the relevant provisions in the constitution which is presently being reviewed by both chambers and with that, they will completely take away the local government administration from the governors.

    “Because if the governor still controls the electoral process at the level, there will be no true autonomy as they will still be in charge of managing their funds.

    “So, that’s one of the angles they want to pursue the autonomy, which is based on a Supreme Court judgment.”

    He further stated that if the local governments can get their allocations directly instead of the states getting and spending for them, “sincerely, all this poverty we are talking about will be reduced.”

  • LG autonomy not protests, will address bad governance, NRM tells youths

    LG autonomy not protests, will address bad governance, NRM tells youths

    A group, National Rebirth Movement (NRM), has called on youths to shun the planned August 1 nationwide protests against hardship, saying the recently affirmed financial autonomy for local government areas will go long way to enhance grassroots development and ultimately end Bad governance.

    A statement in Abuja on Monday by the Convener of NRM, Folusho Ojo Sylvanus, noted that as Nigeria continues to grapple with issues of governance and seeking enhanced political participation, a new opportunity has emerged for the country’s youth population to make meaningful impact through the newly granted financial autonomy for local government areas in the country.

    “This recent opportunity for enhanced self-governance at the local level presents an unprecedented chance for young Nigerians to engage directly with their communities and effect real change, as they desire, from bottom up.

    “Rather than forming phantom protest movements, which have historically lacked steam and always presenting negative results, now is the time for the youth to seize the moment and participate actively in local governance.

    “Only recently did the President Bola Tinubu’s administration achieve a great feat following the historic victory at the Supreme Court for the Local Government autonomy. This autonomy has represent a significant shift in Nigeria’s political landscape.

    “By empowering local authorities to make decisions and manage resources independently, the framework aims to enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of governance.

    Read Also: Southwest APC moves to avert proposed protest

    “And for Nigerian youths, this autonomy is not just a structural change; it’s an invitation to take control of their own destinies and influence the development of their communities.

    “The central government’s inefficiencies and the perceived disconnect between national policies and local needs have long been sources of frustration. With local government autonomy regime, there is now a clearer pathway for addressing these issues directly at the community level.

    “This present order allows local government to tailor solutions to local problems, manage budgets more effectively, and engage citizens in decision-making processes.

    “While protests, like the End Bad Governance movement, have been instrumental in raising awareness and demanding accountability, their impact on systemic change has often been limited,” Sylvanus stated.

  • Beyond local governments’ autonomy

    Beyond local governments’ autonomy

    • By Ibrahim Mustapha

    Sir: For the 774 local governments in Nigeria, succour came to them on Thursday July 11, when Supreme Court ruled that the federal government should henceforth pay allocations directly to them from federation account. A seven-member panel of the apex court held that state governments have continued to abuse their powers by retaining and using the funds meant for LGAs. The court also ordered the federal government to withhold allocations of local governments governed by unelected officials.

    Nigerians have hailed the judgement and described it as timely. The judgement has rekindled the hopes of many Nigerians and advocates of local government autonomy. Prior to this development, local government exists only in name. They have become mere appendages of state governors who control and pocket their funds with impunity. The result is poor services delivery at the level of communities they were created to serve.

    Meanwhile, the much talked about local government autonomy cannot be complete without good and credible local government elections. While the Supreme Court ruling has outstripped state governors of the power to stop appointing caretakers to overseer the local government councils, elections being conducted by State Independent Electorate Commission (SIECs), are nothing to write home about. The political party which controls power at the state ensures it wins all the seats from chairmen to councillors. Unless state electoral bodies are reformed and free and fair elections conducted, unqualified leaders will continue to emerge to pilot the affairs of the local governments. This will invariably hamper the delivery of democracy dividends.

    Read Also: Minister receives freed journalists abducted in Kaduna, commends NSA

    Another fear being expressed is, with the financial autonomy granted to the local governments, are the governors not likely to impose or support their lackeys as candidates during elections? What about the powerful governors striking a deal with their favourite candidates as condition to get support to win elections?

    The Tinubu administration deserves a pat on the back for ensuring that the long-awaited financial autonomy materialised. As the president stated after the historical judgement, “the chairmen of local governments should be ready to give an account of the allocations they will be receiving from the federation account”.  Beyond that, the chairmen should be ready for more scrutiny from Nigerians.

    •Ibrahim Mustapha,

     Pambegua, Kaduna State.

  • Autonomy — from who?

    Autonomy — from who?

    There’s a buzz over local government autonomy — but autonomy from who?  States, of which councils are integral parts? How can you seek autonomy from yourself?

    And before making a false parallel that states are integral to the Federal Government, as local governments are integral to states, know that is a ringing fallacy.

    The federal principle knows no more than two partners: states or regions; and the central government.  Whatever the sub-nationals do with their native or local administration is exclusively their business.

    The crisis, of course, dawned when the military tried to subjugate the federal ethos to their unitary instincts.  The most perilous, of the live tragedies, was the seven-month Head of State, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi (15 January 1966 – 28 July 1966).

    With a stroke of the pen, Gen. Aguiyi-Irosi, in his Unification Decree No. 34 of 24 May 1966, cancelled the then four federal regions: Eastern, Midwestern, Northern, and Western; and pronto decreed them a group of provinces!

    The swift chaos that ensued showed social organizations don’t answer to gruff military diktats!  Yet, the so-called intellectuals of the day, relying more on ethnic sentiments than logical rigour, egged Aguiyi-Ironsi on, along that path of avoidable doom.

    That terrible backlash somewhat made the succeeding Gen. Yakubu Gowon to junk the  “group of provinces”, for Nigeria’s first 12 states, which he created on 27 May 1967, on the virtual eve of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970).

    Yes, the immediate goal was to isolate the core Biafra homeland, from the old Eastern Region, into a sole East Central State (now split roughly into the present five Igbo states), thus cutting off the secessionist enclave from the sea. 

    By that single pre-war gaming, Biafra lost its contiguous continental shelf, aside from its legal link to Port Harcourt, the former region’s economic hub, with its big sea port.

    Legal plank — because it would take the 3 Marine Commando of the Nigerian Army to prise the oil-rich minority areas, starting with Port Harcourt, Bonny Island and allied areas, from the secessionists.

    Still, beyond the immediate war stratagem, the 12 states made a gamely attempt at states founded on tongue and cultural contiguity — as core federalist Chief Obafemi Awolowo had always argued — away from the old regions of ethnic majorities, virtually “swallowing” their minorities.

    It was not until 3 February 1976, when the Murtala-Obasanjo government started carving out more states — they increased the original 12 states to 19, aside from changing the names of most — that the federal ethos receded further. 

    To that regime and beyond, states were no more than atomized administrative units, to press a martial command-and-control realm, masquerading as a federal territory. 

    Read Also: Obasanjo pays Sallah visit to First Lady Tinubu

    Little surprise, then: 1976 also saw the dawn of the Ibrahim Dasuki reforms, that created uniform local governments nationwide, as if councils were civilian barrack formations answering to a central czar — the states, in which these local governments were located, be damned!

    The sweet sop of this new Army wonder was direct funding from the federal purse — money that nevertheless belonged to the federal and state governments, now arbitrarily carved out for a so-called “third tier”.

    But that tier has only succeeded in tearing apart the accounts: with the states taking own pound of flesh — the so-called “third-tier” money is partly theirs by right; and the out-foxed Federal Government bawling “autonomy!” 

    But again, autonomy from who — and for who?  What’s that Achebe-speak again: “Eneke the bird says since men have learned to shoot without missing, he [too] has learned to fly without perching”?

    Shovelling money at the local governments was easy and sweet.  Accounting for the cash, from far-away Abuja, is the crux!  The states have only appropriated what they feel is theirs, leaving the central Leviathan screeching, despite its awesome powers! 

    The rich also cry!

    Again, sociology hardly answers to military orders!  It’s a journey to nowhere, and the Federal Government, now civil and democratic, had better stopped chasing the wind!

    Uniform local governments are one of the many illogics of the military era.  Local governments should be the exclusive business of the states — no one else’s.

    It was a messianic complex to fix what was not broken. The result is the eternal holler for “autonomy” — reverse autonomy that would shove aside the states, while the central nanny plugs the feeding bottle into the mouths of its local government babies? Easier said than done!

    Still, nothing should suggest this piece endorses the rascality of state governments pilfering local governments’ money.  But again, “pilfering” is rather a sweeping word.  How can states pilfer money that partly belongs to them?

    Nevertheless, the bad faith that leaves law-abiding people in a developmental lurch is condemnable.  Nothing can justify that.

    Still, the only organic solution would be to remove the bad faith on both sides, with the basic starting point: the Federal Government has no business in council matters.  

    So, let the Federation accountants calculate the federal share of the third tier funding, pay it into the central purse, but pay the balance to the states: to nurture their local governments, as they damn well please; subject, of course, to the core principle that local governments, as federal and state governments, must be elected.

    For that, the Federal Government should spare nothing to throw states under the bus of public opinion.  It should goad, in every legitimate way, the citizens to call their state governors to account, over local government matters.  That should be a popular move.

    The people, as arch-sentinels over their own welfare, should be the ultimate watch — and control — over local government affairs.  If done very well, good governance at the council level; and democratization at local and municipal levels, could well become core electoral issues, with fatal consequences for erring incumbent governors.

    The military hit their limit in hubris by codifying 774 local governments in the 1999 Constitution — an accident of history, as at when they scurried from power in 1999, but turned into arresting the future.  Now, that was junta arrogance taken too far. 

    It was the same contraption that stopped Lagos from consummating its 52 local governments, because even the Supreme Court, while decrying President Olusegun Obasanjo’s illegal seizure of Lagos council funds, said the creation was “inchoate” because of a support legislation from the National Assembly that never came.

    Lagos, by now, has no business monkeying around with 32 so-called local government development areas (LCDAs), frozen with the 20 “recognized” councils. 

    Instead, the Lagos State House of Assembly could even have created more local governments beyond the 52, so long as the state has the funds to power them.  That should not be Abuja’s headache.

    That’s federalism applied to local government administration — not hankering after military-era “autonomy” that’s well-neigh impossible because it’s plastic and artificial.

  • Full autonomy will make varsities self financing, says VC

    Full autonomy will make varsities self financing, says VC

    Pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Pategi University (APU), Kwara State, Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, claims that full autonomy will make universities to fend for themselves, leading to fees hike DAMOLA KOLA-DARE reports.

    For the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Pategi University (APU), a private university in Kwara State, Prof. Mahfouz Adedimeji, full university autonomy should be critically examined because it would amount to universities catering to themselves and astronomical rise in fees for them to cope effectively.

    In an interview with The Nation, he said: “It is possible if there is a will. However, I hope people understand the implications of the full autonomy. One of the implications of a full autonomy may be that universities will fend for themselves. If that happens, public universities will increase their fees to cope.

    Adedimeji noted that it was imperative to prioritise research and researchers in the country, adding that intellectuals and researchers are not accorded much value and that’s part of why the country is lagging behind in development.

    “In developed nations, research drives development and the impact is felt in the polity. In Nigeria, however, intellectuals and researchers are not accorded much value and that’s part of why we are where we are. We glorify politics and celebrate entertainers. It is the era of knowledge economy globally but in Nigeria, our leaders are anti-knowledge and anti-intellectual, which is unfortunate,” he said.

    On being the vice chancellor and the enormous responsibility that comes with it, he said: “Being a VC means responsibility. It means something like what Alfred Lord Tennyson said of old age. “Old age hath yet his honour and his toil”; meaning that it comes with its honour and toil. We all pray to grow old but the old people are not finding it easy because of the toils associated with it. Definitely, being a vice-chancellor is a crowning glory to an academic career. Yet, it is a taxing assignment for those who take it with a sense of responsibility or seriousness it deserves. To me, being a VC is service and sacrifice with a good sense of responsibility.

    “The experience has been life-like or challenging. Life is naturally full of challenges and pioneering a university can be back-breaking, energy-sapping and mentally-enervating especially when the angles are yet to align. But in it all, the attitude of gratitude and fortitude keeps one soldiering on. By and large, it has been a challenging but worthwhile experience for which I am grateful to God and man.  

    Read Also: Niger Delta minister meets Jonathan, Asari-Dokubo, discusses issues of stolen crude, others

    “You must be ready to step on toes and ruffle feathers. People don’t always want to do right things but the vice chancellor must insist that right things be done to keep the system going and protect its integrity. My own experience certainly aligns with that. One ought to take people to where they ought to be, not where they want to be and that will require making them leave their comfort zones. Being nice to everyone isn’t necessary. Nice girls aren’t responsible girls because they are too willing to please people and not willing to say no.  No serious-minded person wants to be nice. It is good enough to be good.”

    Adedimeji stressed the need to prioritise welfare of university workers, while decrying poor funding, infrastructure, among others.

    “Unionisation wouldn’t have even come into being if people’s welfare and interest of the system were given priority. There is no doubt that the pattern of agitation and fixation on industrial action would require modification and reassessment. Nevertheless, tertiary education grapples with funding, infrastructure, access, quality assurance and other issues. Strikes are only a single ring in a long chain of challenges,” he said.

    The erstwhile Director, Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, urged government to make basic education free and compulsory to address the issue of out-of-school children.

    His words: “Making basic education free and compulsory as done in the past in some parts of the country, especially in the South West, would encourage parents. I am aware that the issue of the out-of-school-children was topmost on the ministerial agenda of the former Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu. The newly established National Commission for Al-Majiri Education and out-of-school children is a bold step in addressing the phenomenon. We can only hope that the commission will live up to its billing.”

    Comparing public universities and private, he said: “Generally, public universities have more resources than private ones. However, this truism cannot be stretched too far because there are public universities, especially state-owned ones, whose proprietors just abandon after establishing them. So, they are just like orphans. There are some private universities that are well-funded based on the vision and resources of the proprietors. In reality, the devil is in the details and it depends more on the specifics of each university too, not absolutely on the nature of ownership.”

    Concerning his vision for APU,  he said: “My  plan is anchored on Vision 5:25:50:500 by which I meant that in five years, I intended to make the university one of the best 25, 50 and 500 in Nigeria, Africa and the world respectively. But I anchored the vision on the three Salmian conditions of concentration of talents, abundant resources and favourable governance. Resources are at the centre in Jamil Salmi’s view because they are needed to attract talents in quality students and staff. You also need resources to institutionalise favourable governance or to get round pegs in round holes. But resources are scarce to put it mildly.

    Therefore, the plan is not going as originally conceived but nevertheless, we are on course to change the narrative through a number of processes that border on thinking outside the box and thinking without the box. It is gratifying that in about two years of operation, the university has done tremendously well in teaching and has recorded dozens of research publications. It has also served the community in capacity building and graduated its first set of diploma students. The students have competed well at inter-university competitions held in 2021 and 2022 at the University of Ilorin and Al-Hikmah University respectively. We are on course. At the end of my tenure, I will like it to be one of the best private universities in Nigeria. I will like it to overcome the initial challenges that I have been dealing with.”

    Adedimeji , who described Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede and Prof. R.D Abubakre as his biggest career influences, noted that he had been coping with challenges encountered at the fledgling university.

    “Challenges are part and parcel of life. One can only be coping with them. I have a set of five P’s with which I cope with challenges generally. These are prayer, planning, practice or effort, patience/perseverance and persistence. It is a cycle as persistence still ends in prayer, which is the beginning,” he added.

  • Local government autonomy in a federal system

    Sir: Local Government in Nigeria is like an independent arm without arm as its financial autonomy status is crippled by legal backings.  This was the shortcomings the current government observed when the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) made a pronouncement that effective June 1, local governments won’t have state governments tamper with their allocations. However, at the point of writing this, it is not yet uhuru since the constitution allows governors to receive monies from the center on behalf of the local government and to decide what is disbursed to local government subsequently.

    The local government is created with the ultimate goal of bringing government closer to the people at the grassroots. It is established to collect taxes and fees and provide local services to the people in the communities, to establish and maintains cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute, to license bicycles, trucks and other than mechanically propelled trucks, canoes, wheel barrows and carts and to help in the construction and maintenance of roads, streets, drains and other public highways, parks, and open spaces, among others.

    Today, the local government chairman would say he can’t unclog that overflowing drainage down the street because of lack of fund. Or that to patch the pothole in the hood costs millions which is not available in the local council’s coffer.

    On different occasions, various reforms have been carried out to smoothing the operation of the local government in Nigeria. The 1976 reform attempted to extend the principle of federalism by bringing government to the grassroots level and to achieve standardization of local government administration. But the 1979 constitution and the current 1999 constitution did not fully address the autonomy of local government. This has created the opportunity for management by both the federal and state governments. What this means is that the state determines who rule at local level and budgets are being manipulated like a politician who knows how to manipulate public opinion.

    The effort by the reform of 1976 to accord financial autonomy to local government was further damaged by the 1999 constitution through the introduction of the State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA). This account has rendered the local government purely dependent- a toothless bulldog.

    It is now a norm for states to determine the tenure of elected members of local government councils. Examples abound in Edo, Ondo, Imo and Rivers states which shortened the tenure of the democratically elected councils and replaced them with members of the ruling political party as caretaker committees. Instances abound of state governments deciding not to conduct local council’s elections.  Notable is Anambra State which ran a caretaker system for six years.

    It is indisputable that local government council autonomy will fast-track rural development, create employment and reduce rural-urban migration. In order for this to happen, the constitutionally mandated State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA) should be abolished; and the constitution should be amended to create a chapter which guarantees the identity and autonomy of local governments as third tier of government. A provision should also be made in the constitution whereby funds allocated are monitored.  It is remarkable to say, neither the councilors nor chairman of local government councils are immune from prosecution while serving.

    The directives by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) that the local government does not need the approval of the state governments to execute projects under its jurisdiction and will no longer run a joint state/local government account is still cloudy as state governments continues to rely on Article 7 of the 1999 constitution which empowers them to enact legislation with regard to “the establishment, structure, composition and functions” of democratically elected local government councils. This section must be critically reviewed by our lawmakers.

    Local Government Councils are closer to the masses and it is only when they are independent that Nigerians can truly lick the dividends of democracy.

     

    • Olusanya Anjorin, Lagos.

  • New Lagos power law to give autonomy to agencies, boards

    •Assembly holds public hearing on bill

    THE proposed amendment of the Lagos State electricity power law will grant some measure of autonomy or independence to agencies and boards concerned with power from the supervising power ministry, it was learnt yesterday.

    This is one of the major provisions of the bill to amend the power sector law for which a public hearing was held yesterday at the Lateef Jakande Auditorium, Assembly complex, Alausa, Ikeja.

    The title of the bill is: ‘A Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Electric Power Sector Reform Law, 2018’.

    Section 3 (2) of the new bill states: “The agencies and boards under the ministry are independent of the ministry”.

    For now only Ibile Oil and Gas Corporation and Lagos State Electricity Board will enjoy this independence though it is not limited to them.

    The amendment also states that: “For the purpose of the Embedded Power Scheme, any ministry, department or agency of the state may provide indemnities to the Embedded Power Provider and Feedstock Merchants subject to the approval of the House”.

    The law also establishes a Power Fund Management Company and “all applicable sum shall be paid into a designated bank account” to be managed by the company.

    A new Section 50(2) has also been created, which states that any distribution company that contravenes the provisions of the law commits an offence “and its managing director shall be liable to imprisonment for two (2) years and the company shall be liable to a fine of N100,000,000.00 only”.

    In his welcome address, Speaker Mudashiru Obasa, who was represented by his deputy, Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni, said there was need to address the challenges of electricity.

    He said: “Almost all the industries at Oba Akran have all gone due to high cost of production.

    “It is to make the law more elegant and more potent. It is to free the energy from bureaucratic bottlenecks so that the board does not rely on Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources so that it can move with high speed.”

    Answering questions from reporters after the public hearing, Chairman, House Committee on Energy and Mineral Resources, Folajinmi Mohammed, said the essence of the public hearing is to engage stakeholders on the proposed amendment.

    “The essence is to make sure there are no bureaucracies in respect to how MDAs under the Power Ministry function; it is our bid to allow for the independent to certain extent for the MDAs to function without having several recourses to the ministry supervising them.”

     

  • Local government autonomy and insecurity

    Sir: Worried that insecurity has impeded development in the rural areas, the Emir of Katsina, Alhaji, Abdulmumuni Kabir, urged the Federal Government to gather the courage and enforce the law on bandits and other criminal elements in the country. He stated this while receiving the federal government delegation that came to condole the government and people of Katsina State over the death of Justice Mamman Nasir on Monday.

    Conversely, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) issued guidelines to stimulate the reduction of crime vulnerabilities created by cash withdrawals from local government funds across the country.

    Acting Chief Media Analyst of NFIU, Ahmed Dikko, announced that the effective date for operation of the guidelines was June 1. He urged all financial institutions, relevant stakeholders, public servants and citizens to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the guidelines which had already been submitted to the institutions.

    Dikko said that cash withdrawal and transactions from State Joint Local Government Accounts (SJLGA) “posed (the) biggest corruption, money laundering and security threats at the grassroots and to (the) entire financial system and the country.

    Since the inception of the 1999 constitution, local government councils have become the cesspools of corruption whereby the state governors’ arbitrarily steal from the funds that ought to accrue to these entities from the federation account and even the internally generated revenues of these councils are sometimes stolen. Auditors are also part of corruption schemes.

    The result of corruption in the local government areas is that the wealth redistribution becomes skewed in favour of only those who are exercising political authorities in the state capitals and the nation’s capitals. This is the fundamental cause of the insecurity we see in the local government areas which have ripple effects across board.

    To underscore the importance of local governments, the United Nations offices for public administration says that local government is “a political subdivision of a nation or (in a federal system) state, which is constituted by law and has substantial control of local affairs, including the powers to impose taxes or to exact labour for prescribed purposes. The governing body of such an entity is elected or otherwise locally selected”. Nigerian Constitution in section 7(1) defines democratic election as the only legal means of setting up local council authorities.

    The Supreme Court reinforced the essence of constitutional autonomy of the local government when it recently voided laws enacted by the states’ Houses of Assembly which allow governors to sack elected chairmen of local governments and councillors and replace them with appointed administrators.

    In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court described the practice as “executive recklessness”, which must not be allowed to persist.

    The judgment by the five-man panel, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour was on the appeal in relation to the dissolution of the 16 Local Government executives in Ekiti State, during Kayode Fayemi’s first term.

    Faulting the law purportedly relied on by Fayemi, the apex court held that Section 23(b) of the Ekiti State Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law, 2001, which empowered the governor to dissolve local government councils, whose tenure was yet to expire, violated section 7(1) of the constitution from which the state House of Assembly derived the power to enact the local government law. Justice Centus Nweze, in the lead judgment, said: “There can be no doubt, as argued by the appellants’ counsel, that the Ekiti State House of Assembly is empowered to make laws of Ekiti State.

    “However, the snag here is that, in enacting section 23(b) of the Ekiti State Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law, 2001, which empowered the first appellant to bridge the tenure of office of the respondents, it overreached itself.

    “In other words, section 23(b) (supra) is violative of, and in conflict with section 7(1) of the Constitution (supra).

    “Hence, it is bound to suffer the fate of all laws which are in conflict with the constitution, section 1(3) thereof.”

    The judge said Section 7(1) of the constitution seeks to guarantee “the system of local government by democratically-elected local government councils and conferred “sanctity on the elections of such officials whose electoral mandates derived from the will of the people freely exercised through the democratic process”.

    “The implication, therefore, is that section 23(b) of the Ekiti State Local Government Administration (Amendment) Law, 2001, which was not intended to ‘ensure the existence of’ such democratically-elected councils, but to snap their continued existence by their substitution with caretaker councils, was enacted in clear breach of the supreme provisions of section 7(1) of the Constitution.

    “To that extent, it (section 23(b) supra) cannot co-habit with section 7(1) of the Constitution (supra) and must, in consequence, be invalidated.

    What we must do is to complete the constitutional amendments process to make local government councils autonomous because if they are autonomous, the chances of seeing public procurement practices that are relatively crime free is high. The chances of the local economy coming back on stream and providing the enabling environment for a revived sound local economy and job opportunities will significantly address some of the fundamental causes of insecurity and instability.

     

    • Emmanuel Onwubiko, <doziebiko@yahoo.com>

  • LG autonomy tops at Vice Chairmen’s conference agenda

    The need to ratify total autonomy for local government areas and ensure the welfare of Vice Chairmen would dominate discussions at the First Conference of the Association of Local Government Chairmen scheduled to begin in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to the National Chairman of the association, Mr. Lawrence Onuchukwu, there is a need to lobby members of the state assemblies who are yet to approve the autonomy following the approval by the National Assembly.

    Onuchukwu, who is also the Vice Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area  Council (AMAC), told newsmen  in Abuja that the association was set up principally to address the welfare of its members rather than compete with chairmen of local councils.

    He said the conference aims at finding solutions to some germane national issues with contributions from resource persons who are well known experts in different fields.

    Noting that only 12 out of the 36 state assemblies have approved the bill on local government autonomy, he said the association will soon embark on intense lobbying with the state assemblies to see need in approving the recommendation as it will benefit the grassroots.

    He said: “Since the National Assembly approved the autonomy for us, only 12 state assemblies have gone ahead to approve the bill as we speak. We are also appealing to the states that have not done so to expedite action on the passage of the constitutional amendment. Let me note that this is not about the position of the governors but about the development of the country. When the LGs are independent, the grassroots will be developed. We have to do this to deepen our democracy.”

    Debunking insinuations that the body could be at loggerheads with chairmen who should be their direct bosses, Onuchukwu said the constitution guarantees freedom of association to all members of the society and the local government vice chairmen should not be an exception, noting that the welfare of its members is paramount.

    “This is a body of like minds and there is freedom of association. We are not in competition with anyone. The chairmen have their own body. Councilors also have their association and we also have our own body which has been operating at the state level before we now set up a national body.  We equally want to have a legal framework for our members such that they would not be ordinary spare tyres in the scheme of things”, he said.

    The conference with the theme “Prospects and the challenges of local government in Nigeria” will be declared open by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Mohammed Bello.

  • ‘Autonomy will strengthen democratic norms at states level’

    Kogi House of Assembly Speaker  Matthew Kolawole yesterday said  the financial autonomy recently granted states’ Houses of Assembly and the Judiciary would further strengthen democratic norms at the states level.

    Kolawole spoke while addressing the people of Ogidi community in Ijumu Local Government Area of the state on the occasion of the 2018 Ogidi Day Celebration.

    The speaker noted that in spite of the autonomy, the three arms of government would continue to work together in synergy for the overall development and benefit of the people and the country.

    He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking the bold initiative to assent to the Bill in the overall interest of the people.

    Kolawole commended the organisers of the “Ogidi Festival” for their well-thought out mission and vision to put the festival on the world map of tourism.

    He stressed that the 6th Assembly in the state was already working on a bill to reposition the tourism sector for better performance and make it one of the major contributors to the state’s income.

    According to him, when the bill is passed, it will provide legal framework for the promotion of the sector, promising that the assembly would continue to make laws that will promote good governance in the state.

    Kolawole charged the Ogidi community to continue to support and cooperate with the current government of Gov. Yahaya Bello in its efforts to positively transform the state.

    Ologidi of Ogidi, Oba Rilwan Sule in his response, thanked the speaker and indigenes of Ogidi for making the 2018 edition of the annual festival a success and called on the people to continue to support the government.

    Oba Sule also charged politicians to play by the rules as the 2019 general elections drew close.

    He urged the youth not to allow themselves to be used as thugs and agents of destruction during the electioneering process.