Tag: Olusegun Obasanjo

It started as local government reforms of 1976.

It has, since then, proved virulent deforms; to centre-component relations, in a federal state.

It is the howling misnomer of piping state money straight to constitutional strangers; in form of a so-called “third tier”.  That is fast tearing into shreds the fundamental canons of federalism.

By such direct federal-local government dealings, Olusegun Obasanjo’s imperial presidency illegally seized funds belonging to Lagos State; during the Lagos council creation crisis of 2004-2007.  Patriotic nastiness was never more monstrous!

Now, combative ignorance continues to triumph over reticent knowledge; on the federal question.  But its strategic chaos may yet wake everyone up to its ultimate folly.

In a federal set-up, there can’t be anything like “local government money”, directly paid from the Federation Account.  That account belongs to two owners: the Federal Government and the 36 state governments.

Any other body, outside these two, is an impostor at best; or a stranger, at worst.  Either way, none can be legitimate recipient of cash from the federal till; for strictly, they are constitutional nobodies.

Yes, the 1999 Constitution (as amended) lists 774 local governments in its 4th Schedule; and wears this misnomer like some gargoyle.  But that was military-era paternalism, if not outright hubris, smuggled into the democratic grundnorm.

Like the bastard in real life, however, whose coming of age causes inevitable chaos, this federal constitutional bastard, of regarding the local government as a federating unit, is set to wreak fresh constitutional havoc!

That is because the Buhari administration just gave it new lease — a new lease that could provoke a constitutionally potent new diss, from the states across party lines.

The polity could well then brace up for a rash of suits, challenging Federal Government powers, over its latest financial regulations.

That is baiting a needless constitutional crisis.  Still, a rare stasis is needed to start the administration’s second term; and focus on rebuilding the economy, without any distractions.

The genie popped off the bottle in 1976, during the Obasanjo military regime.  That paternalistic junta, clearly driven by the military command ethos, felt it could fund local governments, till then the exclusive business of the states, directly from Lagos, then the federal capital.

Enter then, the so-called “third tier”— which was no novelty: local governments had always been an administrative part of the Nigerian polity.  But the anomaly, characteristic of military quick fixes, was decreeing it a component unit of the Nigerian federation.  That was clear military crap!

It is that crap the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) just tried to sustain, by its May 6 new financial guidelines, concerning local government allocations from the Federation Account.

Simply, that guideline decrees no one must touch local government money, warehoused in the state joint local government account (SJLGA), until it hits the specific accounts of the local governments.

On the face of it, the NFIU diktat has its own merits.  For one, governors over the years have been accused of itchy fingers, concerning local government monies; thereby allegedly diverting the money away from local government needs.

For another, in this age of free-wheeling money laundering, the SJLGA could also be a ready and thriving pool for diverting money for grassroots welfare to less noble stuffs.  Plugging that loophole is not out of order, especially by a government that puts a lot of stress on fighting sleaze.

Still, that would appear chasing the symptom; but leaving the real disease to fester.  That the SJLGA was created underscored the legal brick wall, of the Federal Government purporting to shovel cash direct to local governments.

The Federal Government can’t pay allocations to constitutional nonentities – who local governments are in a federal set-up, because they are no federating units.  On what locus, then, would they receive the cash?

Hence, the compromise state-local government joint account – a military ploy to work to a pre-determined answer.  But that came with its own instant peril: the states, not the centre, eventually controlled the money; as unfazed governors bossed the joint account, and determined who got what, to the shrill shriek of local government chairs!

Yes, local governments are constitutional creations.  But the local governments are domiciled in states, not in any central enclave – as the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja – over which the Federal Government has any direct control.

In real terms, therefore, the so-called “local government money” is money that belongs to the states.  This is because the local governments ought to be exclusive concerns of the state, which should reserve the right to increase or reduce their number, in line with administrative conveniences.

Any contrary thinking is a legacy of the military era, when local governments and their creation became a tool of political patronage and punishment, thus complexifying otherwise simple stuff.  These are, however, bad legacies the democratic era must correct – and urgently too.

The gamely NFIU, by its sensational guidelines, is entering the public space with a bang – a new sheriff is in town; and you had better take a dive!

Still, beyond all the entry fire and fury, NFIU is faced with correcting two formidable flaws: the corruption of the federal process (by directly piping money to local governments from the central purse); and the corrupt act of governors, allegedly diverting – and misusing – local government revenue.

The one is basic.  The other is secondary.  But the NFIU ought to know the secondary corruption emanated from the rupture of the federal principle, by the central government trying to bypass the states.  It was fated to chaos.

So, what to do to correct the original flaw? Cancel these direct allocations; and pass whatever money is due to the 774 local governments to their respective states.  If you did that, the secondary corruption would vanish – and NFIU would have fulfilled its mandate without much ado.

This first task – a constitutional amendment – is beyond the ken of NFIU.  That is the job of the political elite, prompting the National and State Assemblies.

But NFIU, pressing its corruption-battling mandate, could devise financial protocols to make the governors accountable for such monies. That would be careful thinking, contrasted to what appears brash macho, of its May 6 financial directives, taking off on June 1.

By these guidelines, President Muhammadu Buhari himself risks rebellion from the states, across party lines.  This is because the guidelines touch the very core of states’ administration; far deeper than partisan affiliations.

Starting a corrective second term needs all the sobriety and concentration the polity can muster.  But this NFIU directive risks breaching all that.

It is tantamount to throwing the proverbial red rag at the bull – and it is doubtful if the polity could withstand the raging states’ ire, in form of furious court suits, to come.

Indeed, it is baiting a needless crisis.