The third anniversary lecture of the Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona Professorial Chair in Governance in Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, has been held in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State. The lecture focussed on the shortcomings of the local government system and what should be done to reposition it, Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN reports.
ON May 10, Nigerians from various walks of life assembled at the Adeola Odutola Hall, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State for a public lecture titled: “Grassroots Governance: The underbelly of Nigeria’s Political Architecture”. The lecture was part of the activities marking the 85th birthday of the Awujale of Ijebu-Ode, Oba Sikiru Adetona, Ogbagba II. The event was organised by the Professorial Chair in Governance donated by the monarch endowed in the Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.
The topic of lecture was very apt, considering the current efforts being made by the Federal Government to empower the third-tier of government through direct payment of revenue allocations, so that it could perform its constitutional mandate to the people at the grassroots.
The lecturer, Professor Ayo Olukotun, who is also the occupant of the Oba Adetona Professorial Chair, was unequivocal in his assessment of the local government system in the country. He said local governments have failed and must be replaced. His words: “Our local government don’t work. What we have are absentee local government chairmen and councillors. What are the outputs of our local governments?
“In other climes, local governments build houses, roads, hospitals and other infrastructure that impact positively on the standard of living of the people. We have serious governance deficit in this country and unfortunately our politicians are not talking about them. Rather, they are jostling for power ahead of the 2023 general elections.”
Olukotun said local governments are as good as dead. He said the errand boys of political godfathers are in charge of local governments. He added: “Many of them do not live in the council areas, do not interact with the people and do not know their problems.”
He said the way local governments were created made it possible for people who lack integrity and respect of the indigenes to emerge as leaders. He said local governments as presently constituted should be scrapped or cardinally reformulated. Quoting Professor Akin Mabogunje, Olukotun said: “One of the cardinal errors or blind spots in creating local governments is that the exercises neglected natural communities which enjoyed a high level of social capital before some of them were arbitrarily lumped together by the authorities. They took huge chunks of place and put them together and said these are local governments, all because that is all that is left that they can play around with to pay (allocation) from Abuja.”
To buttress his position, the lecturer cited the case of Afijio Local Government in Oyo State where communities were lumped together as a local government. He said: “The tragedy is that up to that time, these communities mobilised to initiate projects like the building of community schools. In the case of Fiditi, Awe and Ilora in the current Oyo State, they were local governments on their own. The arbitrary creation of the so-called local governments lumped all of them together and produced a very interesting situation in which the rascals could flourish, because the Awe people were talking about a family which they know has a reputation for moral laxity.
“To put it mildly, but in the context of putting all of them, namely Awe, Fiditi, Jobele, Ilora, Afijio together in one local government, it was easy for shady characters to emerge as chairman and secretary of Afijio Local Government.” In a nutshell, there was little rhyme or reason in the carving out local governments, which often forced communities which had existed and thrived before the creation of the local government into uneasy co-existence and artificial make-ups.
Olukotun also said the late Professor Adebayo Adedeji, an erudite scholar of Public Administration and Development Studies, made a similar point in broad terms, when he stated: “Unless the system of governance at the local level is in tune with the political and social economy of the particular locality, there will be problems which will impede the local government systems. In other words, local system of governance must be adapted to the country’s social, political economic and cultural environments.
“They must draw strength from the grassroots institutions in the locality and in fact become a symbiosis of the traditional and modern of governance that will bring the formal structure of local government, popular and grassroots organisations and the traditional institution of governance in each community. Unfortunately, however, the principles of the creation and sustenance of local government structures premised on indigenous governance systems were ignored with consequences that are too well known to require detailed elaboration.”
Olukotun also made reference to a recent study on local governments by the Social and Governance Policy Research Department of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), which was dismayed by the malfunctioning, poor performance, and weak legitimacy of local governments.
The report reads: “The local governments appear to have produced exactly the opposite of their original objectives in Nigeria. Rather than bringing government and development closer to the people, local governments have produced absentee local government chairmen who are only seen at council headquarters to receive monthly statutory allocation. This is a common experience in most of the local government councils in Nigeria.”
The lecturer observed that the position expressed by the NISER study, and corroborated by several other sources, has become even worse since 2014 because of the recession which hit the nation and drastically reduced the allocation upon which the local government overwhelmingly depended. He added: “Even worse, is the fact that the state which predominantly determines the shape and contours of local government activities went into a tail spin in the last four years, with implications for local government revenue.
“Hence, for example, under the State Joint Local Government Account, various deductions were made from local government funds, including one per cent training fund for Local Government Service Commission, four per cent for traditional rulers (traditional council), 7.5 per cent for employer contributions (contributory pension/NCPS), five per cent redemption bond, 15 per cent primary school teachers’ pension, maintenance of Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, contribution to SUBEB, 0.5 per cent life insurance premium, one per cent audit fees, and 15 per cent local government staff funds.
“The consequence of this is a diminished capacity by local governments to fulfil minimally their constitutional duties, as well as their mandate to deliver services to the communities. Other issues running in the direction of diminution of the role of local governments include arbitrariness of state governors manifested in the dissolution of local governments, the appointment of caretaker councils in violation of democratic principles, the commanding role of local government chairmen with respect to other structures of government, the lack of accountability ethos by local governments, blatant corruption, the institutionalisation of culture of mediocrity and low grade performance, disconnect from the rural populace among others.”
The presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), in the recent general elections, Professor Kingley Moghalu, agreed with the suggestion that local governments should be scrapped, because they have not added value to governance over the years. He said there should be two-tiers of government: federal and state.
Moghalu, who was one of the discussants at the event, said the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) policy that prevents state governments from deducting local government funds is a welcome initiative.
But, he said it would be difficult to implement, because the joint state and local government is a constitutional issue. “Without amending the constitution, it can’t work,” he added.
Moghalu is of the view that traditional rulers should have a formal role that is advisory in governance. He said without good leadership there cannot be good governance. He said constitutional and electoral reforms are required to strengthen the country’s democracy.
Another discussant, Professor Remi Sonaiya, observed that the concentration of powers at the centre is the major problem of governance in the country. She called for a review of the constitution to remove the ambiguity surrounding the status of local governments.
Sonaiya bemoaned the standard of living at the grassroots. She said: “It is unbelievable that our people still live in darkness and trek several kilometres in search of water in the 21st century. We should create awareness at the grassroots, educate our people on their civic responsibilities and how to demand accountability from those who lead them. We should allow local governments to be managed by committed local people, not those imposed by political godfathers.”
Olukotun also spoke on the role of community associations in poverty alleviation and communal development. Citing Ijebu-Ode as an example, he said: “There is no doubt that the most successful poverty reduction scheme is the one centred around the activities of the Ijebu Development Initiative Poverty Reduction (IDIPR) and for good reasons too.
“Considering that initial activities described as city consultation began only in 1999 with a seed money of N500,000 provided by the Ibadan-based Development Policy Centre, had a few years later, through creative fund raising volunteering action, mobilisation of age grade associations such as regberegbe grown to over a million naira, and had benefitted at least five thousand people through an enterprise development programme centred on agriculture.
“Consequently, a community-based 30-member Ijebu-Ode Development Board on Poverty Reduction which later metamorphosed into the IDIPR, was inaugurated under the guidance and directive of Oba Adetona. The objective of the initiative include, providing an institutional framework for the reduction of poverty in Ijebuland, the mobilisation of Ijebu citizens for addressing the challenges of unemployment, entrepreneurship, poverty and fund management through organised seminars and workshop. Providing financial assistance to indigent members of Ijebu community, promotion of tourism, arts and crafts, and activities of co-operatives, among others.”
