The Nation Newspaper

Tag: local government elections

  • Lagosians and tomorrow’s local government elections

    Lagosians and tomorrow’s local government elections

    • By Kehinde Akinfenwa

    Tomorrow, Saturday, July 12, over seven million registered voters across Lagos State will be called upon not just to cast a ballot, but to make a profound statement about the future of governance and the kind of communities they envision for themselves and their generations to come.

    Local elections, though often eclipsed by the spectacle of presidential and gubernatorial contests, remain the most intimate and immediate expression of democracy. In the last local government elections held in Lagos in 2021, voter turnout hovered at just around 11%, despite a pool of over 6.5 million eligible voters.

    This apathy starkly contrasts with the fervour of national elections. But if governance is truly about the people, then the closest government to the people—the local government —should matter the most.

    Every four years, under the guidance of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission (LASIEC), Lagosians are entrusted with the democratic responsibility to elect leaders who will govern the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) and 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs), including councillors in wards across the state.  These councils, each with its administrative structures, are the engines of grassroots development, tasked with delivering essential services and fostering real-time solutions to community needs.

     Coming into this year’s election, the LASIEC is better positioned with stronger systems, deeper reforms, and bold new steps to rebuild public trust. A landmark stride in this year’s preparation was the expansion of polling units. With 13,325 polling units now dotting the state across 376 electoral wards, access has been significantly improved, ensuring that voters can participate in the democratic process with greater ease and dignity.

    While voter accreditation is expected to be swiftly and efficiently conducted using the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) – a biometric device that verifies identity using fingerprint or facial recognition, real-time result transmission from polling units will be implemented via digital portals, ensuring a transparent and tamper-resistant process.

    To support fair access, special arrangements have been made to prioritize voting procedures for the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with disabilities, with the help of voter assistants. These thoughtful additions signal a growing awareness that inclusion must be more than a slogan; it must be action. All these measures send a clear message that every vote will count, and every voter will be respected.

    Since the return to democratic rule in 1999, Lagos State has become a benchmark for credible elections in Nigeria, consistently supporting reforms that ensure the integrity of the process. The 2021 general elections, widely reported to be largely peaceful, with stakeholders, including domestic observers and civil society organizations,

    This momentum must not only be sustained, but also must be expanded. The reforms are in place. The systems are set. Now, it is the citizens’ turn to complete the democratic equation by showing up.  Among the 19 registered political parties, choices abound for every Lagosian over the age of 18 who holds a valid Permanent Voter Card (PVC) because democracy is not measured only by how many names appear on the ballot; it is measured by how many hands reach for it.

    Ahead of tomorrow, eligible voters are encouraged to locate their polling units and make adequate preparations to arrive early for the morning exercise. Upon arrival at the designated polling station on election day, electoral officials, who are trained to maintain neutrality, will guide voters through the process.

    Equipped with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System device, these officials will carry out voter accreditation efficiently and transparently. Once accredited, voters will receive two ballot papers – one for the chairmanship election and the other for the councillorship.

    In the privacy of a voting cubicle, voters will make their mark with a simple thumbprint to affirm their belief in democracy. The drop of the ballot into that transparent box signifies that the people remain the true custodians of governance. And while voters may choose to stay as observers or head home, satisfied that they have fulfilled a civic duty, it is very important to uphold the spirit of peaceful participation throughout the process.

    Read Also: Updated: APC sweeps Imo local government elections

    Democracy thrives in civility, and as such, it is a collective responsibility to vote in peace and with purpose; respect the rights of electoral officials and fellow voters, regardless of political affiliations.

    Driven by the need to maintain law and order, proactive security coordination across the state has been prioritized by the state government.  In strong collaboration with security agencies, a robust electoral security architecture is to be rolled out- a network of patrol units, surveillance teams, and rapid-response squads stationed across key flashpoints.

    In light of the constitutional declaration of local government autonomy and fiscal independence, local government leadership now sits at the epicentre of meaningful, responsive governance. This election, therefore, is not just another electoral ritual—it is a turning point.

    It is a moment for every eligible voter to help shape the ethics, priorities, and direction of local governance. It is a rare opportunity to choose leaders who will responsibly steward public resources and honour the mandate of the people.

    In the timeless wisdom of the political philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “As soon as any man says of the affairs of the state, ‘What does it matter to me? The State may be given up for lost”.

    As ballot papers are unsealed in polling booths across the 57 local councils, what is truly unfolding is the collective will of the people. It is in these deliberate, quiet acts of participation that democracy is renewed and communities are empowered.

    The journey to a more inclusive, accountable, and responsive system of local government does not begin in opulent offices or policy summits – it begins with everyday citizens who show up to take charge of their story.

    From Agege to Lekki, from Epe to Badagry, let it be said that in 2024, Lagosians rose above indifference and chose to engage.  So, come tomorrow  , walk to your polling unit as a determined citizen and cast the vote that shapes the future and strengthens the soul of the Centre of Excellence.

    • Akinfenwa is of the Public Affairs Unit, Office of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Lagos House, Alausa, Ikeja
  • LGs in more trouble than Nigerians think

    LGs in more trouble than Nigerians think

    Of all the local government elections held so far, none has recorded a close contest between leading political parties, whether the poll was a two-horse race, as is common in the country, or a three-horse race where a fringe party has managed to barge itself into the ‘dinner’ party.  In most cases, the victorious parties, usually the ruling parties, have made a clean sweep of the polls, regardless of how ‘progressive’ the governors are thought to be or whether the 2023 National Assembly polls were keenly contested with very narrow margins and outcomes. All that is needed for a clean sweep is for a party to produce the governor of the state.

    Yet, the philosophy behind the federal government’s laborious effort to secure financial autonomy – not administrative autonomy – for the LGs was to introduce accountability, efficiency, development and innovation at the grassroots level. State governments had consistently stifled the LGs, the so-called third tier, and reduced them to beggars. Arguing that the LGs were often irresponsible or incompetent, the states had defied the constitution and taken over everything about the councils, leaving them no elbow room to prove themselves in governance. In fact, in most states until the Supreme Court waded in last July, local government elections had not been held for years. And when the Supreme Court gave judgement in favour of freeing the finances of the LGs, the states ungraciously began to look for ways of sabotaging the freedom. Their reaction was predictable.

    This column warned immediately after the judgement that given the disposition of the states, particularly governors unconvinced about the societal and economic value of fairly independent LGs, it was a matter of time before they caught their breath and began to look for ways to circumvent the ruling. Shockingly, the governors were even more spontaneous than this column feared. They simply enacted the cleanest sweep of LG polls ever, without scruples, without remorse. States like Rivers and Kano where the Federal High Court had issued orders barring the elections from holding, and where the electorate were split almost 50-50, simply brushed aside the judgements and conjured a clean sweep. No courts and no constitution were big enough to hold them down.

    Read Also: Concerns as silent rage of hazardous pollution threatens air quality

    Since 1999, the governors have always been very influential. President Olusegun Obasanjo tried to curb their mafia-like politics, but failed. And with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, nothing they imagined was impossible to them. No other president since has succeeded in taming them. One after another, the presidents simply relented and let the governors run riot over national affairs. President Bola Tinubu tried to reach for the stars by going through the courts to clip the governors’ wings, but from all indications, he has also come to grief. The governors won’t fight him openly, but they will make nonsense of his judicial overreach. Anambra has even tested the waters by railroading through the state legislature an insolent piece of legislation to rubbish the Supreme Court ruling on the matter. Whichever way the judgement is read, and whoever gets the LGs money first, the inventive Anambra law provides that a certain undetermined percentage would be shaved off the councils’ allocations.

    The Supreme Court judgement may not be dead yet, but it is in intensive care already. The judges had claimed to deploy purposive and teleological arguments to underpin and give assent to the financial autonomy the constitution meant for the LGs. It was a beautiful piece of judicial innovation and imaginativeness, a judgement highly welcomed by the populace, and a shot in the arm to revivify somnolent or dying LGs. Seething governors waited only a moment to catch their breath before launching a fierce counterattack. Knocked insensate, the federal government, Supreme Court, and tremulous LGs have been put on the back foot by the counterattacks; and so far, they have been unable to inspire a riposte. Indeed, while the Tinubu administration and allied forces were left reeling, the governors, through the National Economic Council (NEC), attempted to deal a vicious uppercut to the Tax Bill before the National Assembly. The bill has about four of five parts, almost flawless and an ingenious piece of legislation, but the governors, seizing upon the Value Added Tax (VAT) component of an otherwise great and carefully worked bill, will have none of it.

    If the Fourth Republic is failing to meet expectations, the practitioners, particularly the governors, are to blame. As defective as the 1999 Constitution is, it is not so irredeemable that it cannot produce the great leap forward its overly optimistic framers dreamt. It may not rise to the philosophical height of the American original from which it was plagiarised, nor take into cognisance the cultural and political milieux on which it has been clumsily grafted, but it provides a rudimentary enough structure to help Nigeria forge ahead, not briskly, but at least gingerly.

    LGs are the first and primary victims of the constitutional and administrative anomalies of the Fourth Republic. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which promises to monitor council expenditures and take action against infractions, will approach the conflict with the tentativeness it has handled ex-governor Yahaya Bello’s intransigence, then nothing will come out of the political and constitutional subterfuge being masterminded by the governors. Lagos State legislature is finding a controversial way to get round the state’s inchoate local council development areas; but it has mercifully tamed its latent potential for radicalism by not trying to subvert the rule of law, nor egregiously bypass the Supreme Court judgement like a few other states. But few states can really do without the local government allocations; it is a juicy extra they are loth to wean themselves off.

    For now, the LGs are hanging by their toes. They are in far more trouble than anyone thought. The governors resent any whiff of independence coming from that obstreperous tier. They will fight the court’s effrontery to the bitter end. Whether they will get away with it or not is unclear, and whether the federal government will rally to take the battle to the governors is also not certain.  But instead of the judicial and political rigmarole being deployed to solve a rather simple problem made complex by a unitary constitution pretending to be federalist, economic federalism in which states and LGs independently generate their own revenue would be the smartest and lasting solution to obliterate any clamour for monthly allocations.