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Tag: Local Government

  • Can the judiciary save local government system in Anambra?

    Can the judiciary save local government system in Anambra?

    By Chekwube Nzomiwu

    Another opportunity has beckoned for the judiciary to resolve the prolonged impasse in local government administration in Anambra State. Since 1999, Anambra State has witnessed only two democratic transitions at the local government level. Within the same period, there were transitions to five democratically elected administrations at the state-level under different governors. The governors were Chinwoke Mbadinuju (May 1999 to May 2003), Chris Ngige (May 2003-March 2006), Peter Obi (March 2006-March 2014), Willie Obiano (March 2014-March 2022) and Professor Charles Soludo (March 2022 till date). All these administrations had their democratically constituted legislative arms, comprising elected members of the House of Assembly who make laws for the state.

    But, at the local government level, the opposite was the case. Rather than conduct elections to elect chairmen and councillors for the 21 councils and 326 wards in the state, respectively, governors ran the local government administration with handpicked officials, in contravention of the law and a subsisting judgment of a competent court, which held that the state government cannot impose leaders on the local government areas.

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    Section (7) 1 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) guarantees a local government system by democratically elected councils. The constitution further imposes a duty on the state government to ensure the existence of such democratically elected local government. In Anambra State in particular, the Local Government Law of 1999, provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the local government councils, and for related purposes.

    It will be recalled that the Federal High Court Enugu in a landmark judgment in suit no. FHC/EN/CS/90/2005, declared that the Anambra State Government has no power to appoint officials to govern local government areas. Justice A. L. Allagoa entered the judgment on September 26, 2006, in favour of an activist and politician, Dr. Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo who was the sole plaintiff in the matter.

    The judge held that by the combined effect of Section 7 (1) and 318 (i) (c) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of Anambra State has no power in the appointment and approval of caretaker management committee, or in whatever name so called, to administer respectively, the 21 Local Government Council Areas in Anambra State.

    Okonkwo had complained to the court that he was being denied the right guaranteed him in the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, Cap A, 9 Articles 13 (1) 24; 28 and 29 (2) of the L.F.N.2004 vol. 1, to participate in his domestic government in Idemili South and the third tier of government-the Local Government Council-which Section 7 (1) of the 1999 Constitution decreed.

    In his judgment, Justice Allagoa held that the Anambra State law providing for caretaker committee is inconsistent with Section 7 (1) of the Constitution. “Looking at the provision literally, it is clear that the constitution of the local government by democratic system is guaranteed by the constitution itself. The constitution then imposed a duty on the state government to ensure the existence of such democratically elected local government,” Allagoa said.

    He further made it clear that the powers of the State House of Assembly under Section 7 (1) of the Constitution, to legislate concerning local government councils, clearly did not include power of the state government to appoint caretaker committee to run local government.  Consequently, the court ordered the 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents-the Governor of Anambra State, Anambra State House of Assembly and Commissioner for Justice, Anambra State-to pay the sum of N5 million as exemplary damages to the plaintiff. The defendants complied with the judgment and it subsists till date.

    Regardless, 18 years after the judgment, governors in Anambra State continued to run local government administration with undemocratically elected officials, wearing the garb of transition committees. The last local government election in Anambra State was held 11 years ago at the twilight of the Obi administration in November 2013. Incidentally, it was the only council polls held during the eight years of Obi administration, which ran the councils with transition committees.

    Piqued by the obstinacy of the governors, Okonkwo recently dragged Soludo and three of his predecessors to the Federal High Court, Awka Division, over alleged use of undemocratically elected officials to run the councils. In the fresh suit brought through originating summons, he is requesting for nine consequential reliefs/directing orders, premised on the interpretation of the previous judgment of the court in suit no. FHC/EN//CS/2005, delivered on September 26, 2006.

    Listed as 1st to 8th defendants respectively in the latest matter are the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Governor of Anambra State, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Anambra State and Anambra State House of Assembly. Others are former governors, Ngige, Obi, Obiano, for themselves and on behalf of their transition chairmen and councillors, and Livinus Onyenwe for himself and on behalf of transition chairmen under the Soludo administration.

    Besides redefining local government administration in Anambra State, the suit has wider implications. For instance, having acted contrary to the constitution which they swore to uphold, the governors risk being barred by the court from contesting election or occupying public office or seeking for re-election under the 1999 Constitution. In particular, the suit constitutes a threat to the second term ambition of Soludo.

    The plaintiff is also asking for an order to compel the 2nd to 8th defendants to render public account before the court, of all funds, illegally expended by them or agents and privies, during their respective administrations, while executing their illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of offices at the local government council areas in Anambra State, by tampering with public funds, excluding salaries and allowances of local government council employees and workers expenditure. If the court grants the orders, it will serve as deterrence to governors from usurping the functions of the councils and scare people away from accepting illegal council appointments. It will equally encourage the conduct of local government election.

    The plaintiff is further asking for an order, directing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 8th defendant to publish before the Honourable Court, the FAAC Allocation to the respective 21 local government areas in Anambra State from 2006 to 2024. This will improve accountability in the councils.

    In addition, he is urging the court to order the 1st respondent (the Federal Republic of Nigeria) to put into the effect the unanimously passed resolution of the Senate, asking the Federal Government to halt the statutory allocation of funds to local government area councils, where chairmen and councillors were not democratically elected. Okonkwo demanded for exemplary damages of N100 billion in his favour, against the 2nd to 8th defendants. 

    Finally, the case will impact positively on the traditional institutions and town unions in Anambra State, which have been bedevilled by crisis as a result of imposition of leaders, giving rise to grassroots autocracy and financial malfeasance. The plaintiff wants an order, nullifying/setting aside all the purported directives,  financial expenditures, presentment of “Igwe elects” by town unions to chairmen of transition councils, and issuance of certificates of recognition to them as His Royal Highnesses (H.R.H) for government recognition, purportedly made by the illegal and unconstitutionally constituted caretaker/transition committees with effect from September 26, 2006 by the 2nd to 8th defendants, having not been democratically elected.

    •Nzomiwu writes from Awka, Anambra State.

  • Resolving constitutional dilemma on local government autonomy

    Resolving constitutional dilemma on local government autonomy

    Despite calls by Nigerians and the international community for local government autonomy, the bill, which was passed by the 9th National Assembly, could not see the light of day when taken for concurrence at the State Houses of Assembly. NICHOLAS KALU writes that at the moment, more local government areas appear redundant as they have no access to their money, while development suffers.

    The last attempt to amend the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in the exercise carried out by the 9th National Assembly failed to achieve a fundamental objective, which many believe is crucial to the much-needed development of the country–autonomy for local governments. It seemed strange that despite the clamour across the country for devolution of power, an opportunity to push such decentralisation would be utilised but this was not the case as, incidentally, State Houses of Assembly refused to see that the financial autonomy of local governments is brought to fruition.

    The status of local government

    Section 7(1) of the Constitution guarantees the existence of the local governments in Nigeria. It states: “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is, under this Constitution guaranteed; and accordingly, the Government of every state shall, subject to Section 8 of this Constitution, ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils.”

     Also, the Second Column of Part One of the First Schedule to the Constitution enumerates the local government areas in the country. Going by the provision of section 7(1), the local government is a creation of the state government and cannot be said to be a third tier with autonomous status. Again, Section 162(6) also provides for a local government and state’s joint account to be managed by the state and through which the state shall transfer funds to each of the local governments of the state. This provision placed the local government under the financial control of the state government.

     Also, the Supreme Court judgments have affirmed the dependency status of the local governments on the state government, emphasising the fact that the Federal Government has no constitutional legislative powers concerning the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of local government councils, rather it is the states’ governments that are bestowed with such powers under the Constitution. Therefore, since local government is a function of the state government and only the state government has the constitutional power to establish local government and to define its structure and function, it suggests that the local government is not an autonomous entity in the sense that it cannot determine its business, free from the state government. 

    Governors’ stranglehold

    Section 162(6) of the Constitution states: “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.” This means that local governments cannot get their own share of the allocation from the Federation Account directly. The money would be domiciled with the state government which should then hand over the money to the respective duly elected local governments. But evidence over the years has shown that this has been a far cry from what obtains in the Nigerian polity. State governors have grown to become overlords, dissolving elected council leadership installing caretaker committees at will and spending the local governments’ funds as their whims dictate. It seems apparent that constitutional provisions about local governments created the basis for the unhealthy interference of the state governments in the administration of local governments.

     However, a constitutional amendment that freed the local government system from financial control by the states did not make it through to the State Houses of Assembly. The legislation which was rejected sought to provide a special account for the local government allocations to be paid directly to them. The legislation is titled: “Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Abrogate the State Joint Local Government Account and Provide for a Special Account into which shall be paid all Allocations due to Local Government Councils from the Federation Account and the Government of the State; and for Related Matters.”

     In March 2022, the Senate and House of Representatives voted on 68 bills seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution. Both chambers agreed on some of the bills and differed on others and at the end of the day, a total of 44 bills were transmitted to the States. The local government autonomy bill was one of the 44 bills transmitted by the National Assembly to the 36 state assemblies in March 2022 for their concurrence required to get Mr President to sign them into law.

     According to sections 9 (2) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution, two-thirds of all the state assemblies 24 states— are required for each amendment to be approved. Unfortunately, of the 44 bills approved by the National Assembly and transmitted to the state assemblies, only 35 scaled through while the local government autonomy bill with eight others failed.

     The then Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, who was the Chairperson of the Senate Constitution Review Committee, had then accused some governors of frustrating the efforts of the constitutional amendment process through the Speakers of the state houses of assembly. “It is not just about the 44 bills. Of the 44 the most fundamental to a lot of us is the local government autonomy. Even if they shoot down every other bill as not being important to them, at least this is so fundamental,” he had said.

    It seems obvious to many that efforts to ensure the amendment did not go through was due to the influence of the governors, who seek to maintain a stranglehold on the funds meant for local governments in their domain. Even where there is elected leadership at the council level, they are often in the pockets of the governors and their welfare is mostly dependent on their “good behaviour.” They cannot do much as they are tied to the apron strings of the state government which have maintained a strong hold on the government.

    A recent report indicated that 313 out of 774 are handled by sole administrators or caretaker committees. Only 461 are run by duly elected officials. The Constitution stipulates that elections be held every two years, but most of the state governments have failed to comply. The law stipulates this for a maximum of two terms. According to the report, the 461 elected officials are spread across 20 states out of the 36 states of the federation indicating that 16 states run their local government areas with sole administrators or caretaker committees.

     Among various reasons often posited by state governments who spend local government funds is that the third tier is prone to mismanagement of funds. However, over the years, it is apparent that the state governments have exhibited gross mismanagement in the handling of the funds thereby crippling development as the country still grapples with poverty.

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     A 2019 survey by Dataphyte indicated that Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, mismanaged over N15 trillion federal allocation meant for local government areas in the last 12 years, depriving the nation’s third tier of government funds for desperately needed developmental projects. Local governments are a fundamental part of Nigeria’s political system and should be closer to the people than the states and the Federal Government. Yet, for years, revenues that should go to them have ended up with their state governments.

    Senate reacts

    In reaction to the trend of mismanagement and unaccountability of the funds for the local government due to the overbearing attitude of governors, the Senate on Friday resolved that President Bola Tinubu should stop statutory allocations to states that do not have a constitutionally elected local government.

     This followed a motion sponsored by the Senate minority leader, Abba Moro who lamented the inability of some state governments to conduct local government elections. The Senate’s resolution condemned the arbitrary dissolution of democratically elected local government councils in Benue and other states in Nigeria. It called for a review of the governor’s dissolution of the elected councils and constitution of caretaker committees and reinstated the elected council executive forthwith. It said placing caretaker committees to replace elected councils is an aberration and alien to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

     Mixed reactions followed the development. Immediate former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom praised the Senate for the intervention in ensuring the autonomy of the local governments as the third tier of government. He had said the Senate had demonstrated a firm stance against dictatorial tendencies. This he said would safeguard the democratic process at the grassroots level. However, critical stakeholders believe this is not feasible as it runs contrary to the provisions of the law, which indicates the President does not have the power to withhold funds allocated to the states and local governments.

    The way forward

    Many stakeholders have continued to push for a review of the constitution to ensure the autonomy of the local government to engender development having failed at the last outing. There seems to be some promise in this regard as the Federal Government recently promised that in its bid to ensure effective grassroots governance that will bring development to the masses, it plans to ensure that local governments are given financial autonomy.

     During the two-day annual conference of key actors in local government administration, the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Zaphaniah Bitrus Jisalo, revealed that the National Council of his ministry is working towards updating President Tinubu on addressing the issues about joint accounts and collaboration between states and their local governments. Jisalo, who stressed that the local government is a critical tier of governance that cannot be overlooked, stated that if the government gets it right at that level, it will reflect positively on the state and the federal tiers of government.

     The minister, who explained that local government administration has undergone a long and complex journey since pre-independence also, said it was in 1976 that local government reforms introduced elected local councils and emphasised the importance of grassroots governance. He lamented that since then, subsequent military regimes and constitutional changes have led to various setbacks in local government administration and effectiveness. Jisalo said that if financial autonomy is not granted to local councils, there will be a disconnect between the government and the governed at the grassroots level that will hinder development and service delivery.

     Meanwhile, stakeholders hope that as plans for the next round of constitutional amendment unfold it is hoped local government autonomy will be on the front burner. A citizen, David Agada said: “There would hardly be any development if local governments are not fully allowed to run on their own.

     “Strengthening the government at the local level would engender a lot of participation by citizens in the political space and this is a major ingredient for development as leaders would be more on their toes in respect of their responsibilities to the people. The state governments are complaining that the local governments mismanage the funds. But they are also mismanaging the money. With more participation by citizens in government, it would be difficult for crafty politicians to have a field day. What we should have is more accountability in the system and things would go right.

     Also, a communique issued at the end of a one-day National dialogue on Local Government and Grassroots Development in Nigeria in Abuja demanded the dissolution of joint states and local government accounts and the creation of a dedicated account for Local Governments where funds are remitted directly from the FAAC account.

     The dialogue organised by the Social Development Integrated Centre, called for the expunging of areas of the constitutions that empower the State Houses of Assembly to make laws for the LGAs as they are a separate tier of government. It also urged that the powers of States to conduct elections for local governments should be taken away from the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC) and given to INEC. It urged that there should be legislations to ensure complete autonomy of the local governments to ensure the development of the country.

  • Rationalising and optimalising local government system in Nigeria

    Rationalising and optimalising local government system in Nigeria

    • By Godwin Momodu

    Local Government structure which  is the third-tie administrative organ of the federal system in the Nigerian socio-political sector is as old as the nation itself. Coming from the days of British Colonial Administration in Nigeria, it was coined in different  tittles Viz:- Native Authority Council; District Council or Divisional Council and etc. The system obtained through the First Republic and military interregnum in the country. It survived several reforms and finally climaxed in the 774  Local Government Areas in the federation as provided in the 1999 constitution of the federal Republic of Nigeria

    Since the inception of the present civilian democratic administration in the country in 1999, local government administration has not augured well for the over all socio-political or socio-economic development of the nation.. In the first place, the creation of the 774 Areas across the country as spelt out in the present dispensation did not go down well with some sections of the country  –  particularly Lagos state –  which was short-circuited by virtue of it’s population explosion . Whereas compared with Kano and Jigawa states combined, the  hitherto status of Kano State before the last creation of local government excercise,  Lagos State has more favorable geo+demographic statistical data to deserve more local government areas than any other state in the federation.

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    This is probably the reason Bola Tinubu as governor of Lagos State was engrossed in seeking to balance the equation and make up for the loss Lagos State suffered in the last nation-wide excercise of local government creation. He passionately pursued the programme of creating more local government areas in the state without caring whose ox was gorged and the action indignated the office of the then president,  Olusegun Obasanjo who condemned it as ultra vires and illegal. The action really lacked the merit of constitutional amendment and the accent of the president to become law. The issue still rages onto date even though Lagos State rescinded it’s earlier action of creation of local government areas to administrative councils to avoid unnecessary disruption of the political system.in the infant democracy. Today, the man who motivated the ambitious action of the State is now the executive president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria  His Excellence Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    If the creation of more local government areas is of any administrative significance and priority to the Lagos State , this is the time such prospects can be realised. The president has to lay before the National Assembly a grant proposal for constitutional amendment which would integrate local government reforms and affairs in the country. The institution needs to be freed from the cleptomanic clutches and executive prerogatives of state governors so as to add value to the efforts of the other two tiers of government in the country. Without which development cannot trickle down the grassroots of the federation. For instance, the present situation whereby the fiscal and revenue control of funds is subject to the fruaght discretion of the state executive should be reviewed.

    Second, the mode of conducting elections into political offices in the councils must be improved upon or be handed over to INEC to discharge as their sole responsibility and disband SIEC throughout the country. This would forestall electoral malpractices and eliminate arbitrary hand picking of council officers without proper election by the executive.. There is no need to allow any breeding grounds for corruption in the     constitution..The moral sanctity of the document cannot be jeopardized for political convenience,let alone to generate malfunction in the system . Therefore, the constitution needs to be updated to expunge friction in governance and make progress in rural development. This would fast track growth in local markets and other economic sectors in the country.

    Further more, the federal government should set up a ‘ special audit system’  to monitor the incomes and expenditures of councils’ finances to check and avoid abuse and misuse of public funds.  This is the only way efficiency and probity can be restored when  autonomy with  fiscal independence is granted local government councils  in Nigeria..

    •Momodu is director-general of conscience International.  

  • 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.

  • 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>

  • Fed Govt, states, local govts share N619.857b

    THE three tiers of government – federal, states and 774 council areas —yesterday shared N619.857 billion as Federal Allocation for  February.

    A communiqué issued by the Technical  Sub -Committee of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the end of its February meeting, indicated that the gross statutory revenue received was N478.434 billion.  It was lower than the N505.246 billion received in the previous month by N26.812 billion.

    Addressing reporters at the end of yesterday’s meeting in Abuja, the Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Muhammed Usman, said: “Federation crude oil export sales increased by about 46 per cent resulting in increased federation revenue from $425.00 million previously to $574.95 million. Shut-in and shut-down persisted while some terminals remained closed due to leaks and maintenance.

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    “Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) increased significantly while Companies Income Tax (CIT) recorded a marginal increase. Revenues from Value Added Tax (VAT), Oil Royalty, Import and Excise Duties decreased in February, 2019.

    “The distributable statutory revenue for the month is N478.434 billion. The total revenue distributable for the current month (including VAT, Exchange Gain, Excess Bank Charges recovered and Forex Equalisation) is N619.857 billion.

    “Therefore, from the total distributable revenue for the month, the Federal Government received N257.681 billion representing 52.68 per cent; states received N169.925 billion representing 26.72 per cent; local government areas received N127.722 billion representing 20.60 per cent; while the oil-producing states received N50.946 billion also representing 13 per cent derivation revenue.”

    Usman further disclosed that “the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at 27th March, 2019 is $183 million.”

  • Collation of results stalled in Oyo

    Collation of results of the election is stalled across the 33 local government areas of Oyo State.

    As at 7:00 am Sunday, no result for a single local government was ready for announcement by INEC.

    Collation was either stalled or still ongoing at a snail speed in the various centres for wards and local governments across the state, thereby leaving many tensed.

    Journalists and observers waited endlessly at the commission’s headquarters throughout the night waiting for arrival of Returning Officers to bring results.

    Collation was said to be ongoing at the various ward and local government headquarters.

    INEC Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Wola Awolowo, told The Nation that the leadership of the commission was also awaiting arrival of results from local governments, stressing that various challenges were slowing down the activities.

    This contrasts with past experienced when results were ready for announcement Saturday night.

    None of the commission’s staff was able to leave their duty posts.

  • NULGE rejects APC Committee report on Local Government

    NULGE rejects APC Committee report on Local Government

     …says it misrepresents positions of Nigerians

    The Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees ( NULGE ) has rejected the proposal by the APC Committee in True Federalism that Local Government Councils be delisted from the constitution as a tier of government and be left to the whims of the states.

    The union said that the report was a predetermined position of a cabal within the APC to derail the ideals of the Nigerian people as the position being canvassed by the report does not represent the view of the Nigerian people in general and members of the APC in particular.

    National President of the Union, Comrade Ibrahim Khaleel said at a news conference in Abuja on Monday that if the party and the Buhari government are sincere to the issue of restructuring and devolution of power in the country, power should be devolved to the local governments rather than removing power from the federal and local government to the states.

    He asked the leadership of the party to stop dissipating energy on the report and dump it in the trash can especially the aspect that deals with the delisting the local government from the constitution and ask state Houses of Assembly to wake up to their responsibility, and give a voice to the local government autonomy bill already passed by both chambers of the National Assembly.

    He said: “Our union has been canvassing for an autonomous local government system in Nigeria through nationwide advocacy campaign that embraces all the 36 states and 774 local government areas of the federation. We had audience with all the governors of the 36 states of the federation or their representative, state assembly members and other stakeholders. 

    Read Also: Rumble in APC as zonal chairmen move against Oyegun

    “We equally participated in all the zonal consultation held by the APC restructuring committee across the country. We are sure that those of you that followed or covered these events are fully aware of our visibility and what transpired during the APC restricting committee consultations in all the venues.

    “We wish as a union to, on a very strong term reject and condemn the aspect of the report that aimed at scrapping local government by delisting it from the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as a third tier of government, as we see this as a predetermined position of some cabals in the party, not the party as a whole let alone, the position of the Nigerian people. 

    “We call in the party leadership to put the report in the dust hon and not to dissipate unnecessary energy on it, discard and shred the report as it was predetermined, self serving, mischievous and didn’t reflect the position of either it members or Nigerians at large.

    “If we are very sincere to the issue of restructuring and devolution of power in Nigeria, power should, as a matter of urgency devolve to the grassroots other than removing power from the federal and local government to the states government.

    “Nigerians have been clamouring for a functional, democratic local government for a long time. In 2003, the 7th Assembly had taken the debate on local government to the 360 federal constituencies where about 327 clearly supported an autonomous local government system by way of ensuring constitutional reforms. 

    “In the same vein, the 8th Assembly has already passed the bill to make local government more independent, based on the aspirations of Nigerians. Now the bill has been transmitted to the State Assemblies waiting for their action, some governors are ganging up again to hijack the process at the State Houses of Assembly.

    “The aspect of the committee recommendation is just an attempt to hijack and divert the ongoing process of the constitutional amendment process awaiting action at the state Houses of Assembly.

    “We wish to express our profound appreciation and gratitude to the Heroes of democracy and governors of Benue, Cross Rivers and Bauchi states and their Houses of Assembly leadership and the entire members for overwhelmingly adopting the bills on local government, after conducting public hearing by the houses. Democracy is about people and Nigerians have spoken clearly, loud and their opinion must be respected at this critical period. 

    “We appeal passionately to the remaining state governors to support Nigerians by identifying with the position of the majority if Nigerians allow state assembly members to discharge their constitutional, mandate without interference and undue influence, where the state legislators should urgently organise public hearing on the bills that aim at strengthening local government systems and ensure that they stand with the people they represent.

    “The leadership of the union at both the state and local government levels are hereby directed to renew and redouble their efforts in engaging their state legislators to ensure the success of the struggle, while our comrades from other sister unions, civil society allies and all Nigerians are urged not to relent on their efforts in this regards.”

  • States’ handling of LG allocations mistake – Group

    States’ handling of LG allocations mistake – Group

    Handing over local council allocations to state governments is a mistake, a human rights campaigner, Citizens Voice Development Initiative (CVDI), has said.

    The CVDI National Chairman, Chief Charles Okafor, made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    “The reason we have as much as 774 local governments is to bring government closer to the people so that government can effectively impact on the people’s lives.

    “The direct opposite is what has been achieved.

    “Local governments are left in the hands of state governors who see them as extensions of their treasuries,’’ Okafor said.

    He called for financial autonomy for local councils to enable them to realise their aims.

    “Today in many local government areas, there have been no elections for as much as four years now.

    “I wish that the Federal Government can set up a commission to investigate some local government administrators,’’ Okafor said.

    He also called for abolition of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) to facilitate free and fair council polls.

    Okafor said that the Independent National Electoral Commission should take over conduct of council elections, urging that it should be allowed to carry out the duty without interference.

    Okafor also called for true federalism that would be based on the six geopolitical zones of the country.

    “Our group believes that when the country runs federalism the way it should, some of the agitations and calls for separation will cease.’’

     He said that true federalism would generate a healthy competition among the federating units to grow the economy.

    According to Okafor, federalism as  practised by Nigeria in 1960-1963, allowed independence of the various regions, resulting in their abilities to develop the economy with agriculture.

    He said: “We are talking of an arrangement were you have groups of areas that can be on their own; the six geo-political zones are alright in our thinking because people are not complaining.’’

    Okafor said that restructuring would require that states should  take up certain responsibilities.

    The national chairman said that Nigerians must de-emphasise oil revenue and think of how to develop the country with other resources.

  • How local government can get autonomy, by Oyo Speaker

    How local government can get autonomy, by Oyo Speaker

    The Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Michael Adeyemo, spoke with BISI OLADELE on the quest for local government autonomy and other issues.

    Teachers across the country are protesting against autonomy for local governments. What is your view?

    Members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers  (NUT) protested and came up with their own position against the local government autonomy. They were received by the Deputy Governor and they were advised to approach the House on this issue. I can say that we have been in touch with them, having known that the House will still have to ratify whatever is coming from the Executive but this position is yet to be adequately addressed from the National Assembly committee considering amendment of the constitution. Some wanted autonomy for local governments but the fundamental question is not being considered or treated before we want this autonomy to scale through. There is this agitation of inequalities in the present numbers of local governments we have. How do we reconcile it? Some states have more while other states have very few ad considering their population, they deserve to have more local governments and some states decided to create more local governments but they are unable to scale through in getting the National Assembly approval.

    Now, how do we address these inequalities? Before we can say financial autonomy, there must be an opportunity for states to create local governments. If you are saying the local governments presently created by the state will not enjoy allocation, that means you have already fixed it that you do not allow more creation of the local governments and the case in study is Lagos and Kano states. Statutorily today, Lagos State has 20 local governments, look at the population and Kano state has 44 local governments. You can see this imbalance and inequality compared with the population. These are the germane things that we need to address. Then, how did we get where we are now?  It goes down to the fact that there was a time that there was zero allocation. Some local governments were unable to effectively run their local governments, they were unable to have enough monies to pay staff and teachers salaries.  I think in an attempt to find a solution to the zero allocation and inability to pay teachers salary, they came up with this. Now, how could this present development on autonomy address the issue? Are we not going back to that era of that period and why the need for having autonomy and are we saying we should not strengthen our federalism or we should continue with the practice of what I called unitary-federal system? Why I say so is because, exclusively, the constitution empowers the House to make laws as to the structure, administrations and finances of the local government. So, by the time you now say that it should be autonomous, that means they are like states whereby they will be relating directly with the Federal Government. So, you now have a committee performing an oversight function in the National Assembly. So, are we saying that is the best arrangement? Why cant we simply look at the challenges confronting the local government and address them? One of it could be: is it that the state assemblies are not up and doing in the oversight responsibilities to ensure transparency and accountability in funding and monies meant for the local government? If they are unable to do that, what have been the factors responsible for all these failures and how can we address them? There are a lot. There are many opinions for and against this, but my take on it is that all these factors which I have mentioned must be given due consideration, not that we will use one problem to solve another problem and we will continue to have series of problems unsolved. That is my take on it and you know the experience of teachers during that era, it was so pathetic and why would you want to disrupt a system that is working now because we have some shortcomings? Why cant we look at those shortcomings and let the National Assembly be proactive, not necessarily on sentiments and unnecessary agitations. We should look for issue-based solutions to address the problems of the local governments.

    Taking a look at the Oyo State 2017 budget, are there specific problems the budgets will address?

    In continuation of the infrastructure, as far as the state is concerned, we made adequate provisions for some of these roads to be executed and completed within the time frame. And on the issue of education too, the government ensured that education is given priority like infrastructure and security. So, we ensured that inspite of the shortfall in terms of the money that government is getting from the federation account and even the little improvements we have in the internally generated revenue, what we discovered from the budget is that we do not make ambitious estimate both for the capital and recurrent expenditure. We must be able to ensure that for each sector, money appropriated for certain projects comes from a particular source. That is the style of this year’s budget. We cannot just appropriate, we have to look at the corresponding revenue to finance whatever the capital project or any project that you want to do. So we ensured that there is correlation between the budget appropriation law, which is the budget estimate and the revenue law, which is the revenue to finance the budget. Most earnings in the budget will get the corresponding finance or source of fund for the project. For instance, if we say, this is the amount of money we want to spend on agriculture, we would say, this is where the money would come from to fund that project. The era of just appropriating funds for the sake of it to satisfy certain interest has gone. What we are doing now is that even if any ministry approaches us for probably to look at anything they are given either to increase it or otherwise, we have the responsibility to ask the ministry of agency or department where the money they expect to add to their budget will come from. Once they are able to show that there is a source of fund for it, then, we will consider it. This is a new development in budgeting, on which we are seriously working with the Ministry of Finance and even the Accountant General’s office to rub mind in ensuring that we have a practicable budget, not necessarily for budgeting sake and we see the budget performance improving through this time.

    How many bills has the Eight Assembly passed and which of them can you easily say has direct impact on the ordinary man on the street.

    I can say all the bills passed by this Eight Assembly are those that have direct impact on the good people of Oyo State. They are laws that address challenges in the spheres of security, education, health, agriculture, judiciary matters, land matters and infrastructural development and general administration. Conservatively, we have passed about 45 bills which His Excellency has assented to. We also have about 15 under second stage of passage, about three of which are in the first reading. Majorly, these laws tend to assist the government in improving the revenue of the state, having realized that the money coming from the federal has actually dropped and is inadequate for our needs as far as governance is concerned. Some of these laws are obsolete, especially those that have to do with revenue. They are not in line with the current challenges, so we were able to work on them to make it in such a way that it will conform to new development and current dispensation we are going with. Basically, we looked at the laws that will enhance and improve the IGR of the state, we looked that the laws establishing some agencies which are required to promote the economy of the state. We also looked out for the laws that will encourage investment into the state. So, these translate into development in terms of investments that we have seen which the governor, in the course of the sixth anniversary of the administration, mentioned so much because there are enabling laws and most investors are always looking for the laws that will cover them while showing interest to invest.  Also, we have the issue that has to do with security. Kidnapping was so rampant then. So, we discovered that the law in place did not address the modern trend and sophistication of modern kidnapping we are experiencing now. So, we put anti-kidnapping laws in place. Anybody found guilty of this crime has adequate punishment under the law and any materials or property used for kidnapping purposes will also be forfeited to the government of the state. If it is a house, the building will be demolished and the landed property be taken over by the government. Then we looked at the law that has to do with the administration of criminal justice. Before now, the dispensation of criminal justice was so slow such that the accused is always set free because of the lacuna in the criminal administration which we are operating. Also, when a criminal is apprehended and trial, the victim of the crime does not tend to have any justice. So, we tend to have a law in place that will bring compensation to the victim of a crime. For instance, somebody whose money was stolen or a fraud was perpetrated in his company and the accused was found guilty after being arrested and sentenced for certain years of imprisonment, and that is the end. The owner of the money is still the loser because the money will not be retrieved and given back to him or probably, the money must have been used to acquire some property or certain investment. But this House passed a law that ensures that even the proceeds or whatever the suspects or the criminal must have taken, is returned to the owner or victim. So, this brings justice to everybody either to the criminal or the victim of the crime. These are some of the improvements. Then the  idea of remanding suspects in custody till eternity was addressed. The House addressed it by ensuring that the police must conclude their investigation on time and ensure speedy trial by not wasting the time of the court. Another thing that is so close to it under the law is community service as an alternative to imprisonment. We discovered that some people committed minor offences but they were eventually sentenced to prisons where they have hardened criminals and armed robbers. By the time they serve their years or months of sentence, they come out well equipped, well trained to become serious criminals. This, we know, will not help our society.