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Tag: third tier

  • Is local govt the third tier?

    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.”

  • ‘Local council is not third tier’

    ‘Local council is not third tier’

    Second Republic Secretary to Lagos State Government Asiwaju Olorunfunmi Basorun spoke with EMMANUEL OLADESU on how restructuring can foster good governance and guarantee the welfare of the people.

    What is your view on the agitation for restructuring?

    The welfare of our people is the priority. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was talking about democratic socialism. His target was the welfare of our people. In the West and the East, they have forgotten about capitalism, socialism and communism. But, here, we are talking about federalism, true federalism, fiscal federalism. We should design a constitution that will seek the welfare of our people.

    What are the core issues of restructuring?

    I am not opposed to state police. When you look at the two sides of the coin, it is balanced. Give state police to Wike, you destroy everybody in that state. I used that as an example. But, in a fair-minded climate, the state should have a government and a state police to back it up. A driver was taking me in the United States, about 10 or 15 years ago. He detected that the federal police on the highway found out that he had not renewed his license. He asked whether I could drive. In said no. He surrendered himself to the police and called someone to come and drive the car. So, federal should have functions and state should have their functions. That should settle the issue of federalism. The other issues are revenue allocation and merger of states.

    What about devolution of powers?

    I believe that the time is ripe to take out some functions from the Exclusive List, which is federal, to the Concurrent List, so that the federal and states can be doing them together. On housing, the Federal Government should supervise and provide an all-embracing policy for housing and let the state do it. Bankruptcy and insolvency, for instance. Registration of voters should be done by the state, as Lagos State is doing with LASTRA. The generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. The state should participate. Finger prints identification and records should be taken from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List. Labour, industrial relations, conditions, safety and welfare of labour; prescribing a minimum wage, should be moved from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List. Promotion and regulation of tourist traffic should be removed from the Exclusive List to the Concurrent List.

    People talk about the devolution of powers. They have not told us what powers should be devolved. In doing so, funds should be sufficiently made available. The percentage of revenue due to the states should be increased.

    Will you also advocate for regionalism?

    To me, if regionalism is cooperation among or between states, there is nothing wrong. Oodua Group is an example. It is an economic matter. But, when states come under a region and then, you have a regional government, and you have state governments, the cost of governance will be high and it will nullify the gains. If we have 36 Houses of Assembly for 36 states and six regional Houses of Assembly, the total is 42 Assemblies. In the existing set up, we have 990 legislators. They are proposing 47 more. By the time you add that, it will be 1,047. Also, you will have more Speakers, deputy speakers, majority leaders and so on. Then, you come to the executive. Governors will be somewhere. Administrators will be somewhere. Then, there will be deputy administrators, ministers and commissioners, and permanent secretaries. So, they want to set up governments in each region to which states will report. The six geo-political zones have not been legalized. Reference is only made to regions for administrative purpose. If you want to recognize them, then, they should propose a law to the National Assembly to do that. But, then, you have seven states in the Northwest, six in the Southwest, Northcentral, Northeast and Southeast and five in the Southeast. Can you imagine asking somebody in Zamfara who reports in Gusau, the state capital, to come and report in Kaduna? Or somebody in Edo, who is now reporting in Benin City, to report in Port-Harcourt, as the headquarter of Southsouth? In the West, those of us in Lagos will go back and report in Ibadan? Somebody in Jalingo, the capital of Taraba, will now go and report in Maiduguri, or somebody from Ilorin, Kwara State, will now report in Jos. These are areas that were not properly looked into. All our people in their contributions were opposed to regionalism. I as a person, since 2000, have been making my contributions to the debate. Nothing has happened to change my position. I am opposed to regionalism. Regionalism should be cooperation between or among states. The Oodua Investment Company is an example of such cooperation.

    Do you support the agitation for autonomy for local council?

    The issue of local government is a serious one. There are two issues. The first one is the remission of the local government as put in Section 7(1) of the constitution, which is the ground norm of the local government administration in Nigeria. The creation, management, funding, which is not put there, has already put the local government under the control of the state. Some people are saying that the local government is a third tier. Nowhere in the constitution can you find it. It is an assumption. It is not a third tier. If it is the third tier, the federal is tier one, state is tier two. All that has to do with the two tiers are in the constitution. There is nothing like that for the local government. The current National Assembly Committee on the amendment of the constitution got stuck. They found out that there is no third tier in the constitution. The issue which I think is popular now is that the system of democratically elected local council is guaranteed under the constitution. The government of every state, shall, subject to Section 8…. Section 8(5) should be deleted from the constitution. There are many problems along the line. Local government creation should be left to the states. If a state decides to have 100, let it have it. The constitution already provides in Section 162 for JAC, which they condemn outrightly. Some states are not operating the JAC well. There are provisions in Section 162 that when the money comes to the state account, there should be a law on how to share it. I have not seen many state governments making the law. Two, that state governments, from their own finance, from their own revenue, should donate a percentage to the local government. They have not been doing so. The constitution does not specify the percentage. I am recommending that it should be 10 percent.

    They should come to Lagos to learn. You cannot see local council staff being owed salaries in Lagos in the last 18 years. Not because Lagos is buoyant. In some states, state governments are owing primary school teachers. What is the trick? Once the money drops, and they go to JAC, Class A is local government staff salary, and teachers’ salary. You first of all remove those ones before sharing. It is not only salary that they remove. They remove several things; LG Pension Fund, local Education Authority. Those are deducted before the balance is given to them. Local governments don’t struggle to get the money. Other states may not be doing it. Whether the state governments in other state do not use the money for that is a question to be addressed. Remit local government to the state and the issue of autonomy follows. A state can create 100, if it wishes. The quantum of local government is not what determines what is given. Lagos State since July got six billion; Osun State three. The difference is there. If they have 100 local governments, that is what will be shared to them. Kano has 44 local governments. There are indices for the allocation. Population is number one. In IGR, Lagos is leading, with Kano trailing it. There are other indices, but population is the key one. Equality of state and local government, I think, is 40 per cent. But, there are other indices. Land mass. But, it is not the number of local governments that determines what they get as federal allocation. So, people talk about autonomy. I want to be less harsh now. It cannot be now. All along, I have said never. But, all we have seen around us and elsewhere does not support giving autonomy to local governments. That translate to the revenue allocation not going to JAC, but going directly to the local government. First, the executive capacity of the councils throughout the country is so poor. They call them council engineers; they are technical officers. They don’t have qualified accountants working as treasurers. Then, the cankerworm, corruption, is worse in the local government. The state is being monitored by the House of Assembly. The councillors cannot monitor the chairmen. Once they give them part of the thing, that is the end of the matter. In the future, we can talk about autonomy. But, it cannot be now. I read that 36 Speakers of Houses of Assembly voted for the autonomy of council. They have not reasoned among themselves. I am not sure the Lagos Speaker is part of them. The memorandum of the state read at Ibadan opposed autonomy for councils. I don’t believe the report. Now, remuneration and allowances. REMAC determines the salaries and allowances. They still include dress allowances, dress allowances. Talking seriousness, my first approach is that each state or council should cut its cloth according to its cloth. Somebody in City Hall should be earning N20 and somebody in Akodo should also be earning 20 because he is the chairman. It goes for state. The governors of Kano, with all the population and challenges, and the the governors of Zamfara, Jigawa, Taraba should not earn the same salary. It is not right. I have taken a sample from US. In Alabama, with a population of 4.6 million, the salary of the governor is 185 dollars per annum. In California, with a population of 38.8 million, the salary is 212.2; 100 more than that of Alabama. In Alaska, it is 125,000.  In Arizona, it is 195. In Arkansas, the country home of President Bill Cliton, it is 80,000. Colorado, 90,000. Connecticut 150, Maryland 150, far below California. New York 179. Texas 150. Washington, the headquarters of government, is 163. Florida, with a population of 19 million, 132. It varies. In some states, the Attorney-general earns more than the governor. It is an issue that must be looked into seriousness. In one of the conferences, it was suggested that each state should have revenue mobilization and sharing commission, instead of the almighty one determining for the entire country. It should be established in the state to look at the state and local government salaries, based on their resources, cutting their clothe according to their cloth. A governor is having 18 Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) and another state which cannot afford what it takes is trying to have the same number. This thing should be decentralized. The federal legislature is to make the law, but they will not make it. Reason will prevail one day. What is spent on them should be reduced. The Speaker of US Parliament earn a different salary, but and the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader earn the same salary. Members earn different salaries. The Vice President is the Head of Senate. The Speaker extemporary has 193,400. Members earn 196,000.

    How do we shore up the revenue base of the state and local government? I have a novel idea of what to do. Oil blocks are in the hands of very few Nigerians. A senator has said for one bloc, you make about four billion naira a day. If that is true, those who have more than one, should drop the excess of one with the Federal Government through the National economic Council. These should in turn be issue to all the states. The National Economic Council should supervise how it is used. The states should give 10 percent to local governments. Paris Fund will soon be over. This is the permanent bail out. The constitution says the wealth of the country belongs to us all. That is why the North is opposed to giving a large chunk of the money to the Niger Delta. If they belong to all of us, this is one approach. Where however, those holding the oil blocs refuse to voluntarily surrender them, the issuance should be withdrawn from them. We have a president who is ready to look at the welfare of all Nigerians. He should take them and redistribute to the states. But, there must be a legal framework guiding the proper surrender, the release to state and management of the fund. If this is done, no state will be broke again. Some states get six billions. Other states get N650 million. How do you expect that state not to owe salary? The state has over-borrowed. It has exceeded its credit worthiness. When you borrow, you must use it wisely.

  • Tragedy of third tier of government

    Tragedy of third tier of government

    Local governments are created to facilitate development at the grassroots. In spite of constitutional reforms that have enhanced their status and capacity, they have failed to impact positively on the people. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the problems confronting the ‘third tier’ of government.

     

    To many Nigerians, the National Assembly’s decision to grant autonomy to local governments would enable the third tier of government to perform its statutory duties. According to them,  local governments have not fared well because they are dependent on state governments.

    Analysts have attributed the poor performance to many factors. The enormous power the governors wield on council chairmen; the governors decide who become chairmen and councillors. Also, the state electoral commission allegedly manipulates poll results in favour of the ruling party because they are appointed by governors.

    Local government allocations from the Federation Account are paid into the Joint State and Local Government Account over which the governors have full control. The state governments delay payment to the local governments and on many occasions, do not remit the full share. The local governments cannot initiate projects outside those approved by the state government. These encumbrances make local government ineffective.

    A political scientist, Dr Abdullahi Aminu, described local government as a political structure under the state authority, established for the sole intent of decentralising political power and delegation of authority. He said the main objective is to make appropriate services and development activities responsive to local wishes by delegating them to local representatives.

    Aminu frowned at the practice whereby local governments with democratically elected executives are answerable to the state government. He said: “Once they are accountable to the state governors, they can’t perform their functions; local governments should be accountable to the people just as the state and federal governments are.”

    Aminu said if the constitutional amendment proposed by the National Assembly sails through, and all constitutional provisions that tied the local government to the state government are removed, the third tier will perform. His words: “Remove all these elements that hinder local government from operating as a tier of government. The joint account should be abrogated and they should be allowed to conduct their own election independently. It is necessary to have a full blown local government with full blown autonomy.”

    According to him, putting local councils in the pocket of state governments do not attract competent and qualified people to serve as chairmen or councillors. “The chairmen and councillors are errand boys of the state governors. They dare not challenge the authority of the state governors otherwise they would be removed unceremoniously. How many chairmen have ever complained publicly that they were being short changed by the state governments in disbursing their share of federal allocation?

    “The governors remove chairmen and councillors at will, either because they don’t belong to the ruling party in the state or they are not willing to do the bidding of the state chief executives. The state governor intervenes in their activities. The state governments determine what to do with joint account; the funds on many occasions are diverted. This is not good for the country and our democracy.

    “I did a research on local government funding recently using some local governments in the country as samples. Our findings reveal that the federal allocations are paid into state governments’ accounts and remain there for weeks in order to generate interest. In sharing the allocation the state government would deduct certain amount from the local governments’ share as joint project fee. The unfortunate thing is that there are no visible projects being carried out within the local government area to justify the deduction. This is possible because the chairmen collude with the state governments to deny the people at the grass root of their rights. They are paid fat salaries and allowances to keep their mouth shut. It is unfortunate that is what is happening all over the country”.

    A former local government chairman, Ogbuefi Alloy Nwankwo, said the poor performance of local governments is rooted in inadequate revenue. He blamed it on the sharing formula for revenue allocation. He said 774 local governments are allotted 20.6 per cent; 36 state governments 26.7 per cent and Federal Government take the lion share of 52.6 per cent.

    The 774 local governments get the least from the Federation Account.

    Nwankwo said. “The third-tier of government is very close to the people. Local governments know the needs of the people better than state and federal governments that are far from them. That is why all roads that falls within the purview of local governments are in state of disrepair. They don’t have money to rehabilitate them, let alone constructing new ones; most of the primary health care centres are not functioning, many primary school buildings have collapsed because of lack of maintenance.”

    He explained that the local government chairmen are not lacking in ideas. He said: “They know what to do but when there is no money to execute the projects there is nothing they can do. After paying salaries of staff from the federal allocation, nothing is left. Where the federal allocation is not sufficient to pay workers’ salaries, the chairman had to take bank loan.

    “Financial autonomy for local government is not enough. The Federal Government should take another look at the revenue sharing formula. The local governments’ allocation should be increased to 35 per cent because they have a lot of functions to perform being the closest tier of government to the people.”

    Nwankwo also said the abysmal performance of local governments has to do with lack of financial autonomy, corruption and undue interference in local government affairs particularly with regards to joint state-local government account which gives the state government undue benefit over local government. He said the state governments have undermined the financial viability of local government by encroaching on their revenue yielding functions like markets, motor parks, tenement rates and liquor licensing. He described the hijacking of local government services by state governments as a grave concern, and especially of those elements of service delivery that can deliver an income.

    A lawyer, Cecilia Ogezi, agreed with Nwakwo’s submission. She identified the challenges at the local government to include lack of autonomy, inadequate finances, weak inter-governmental relations and corruption.  These, according to her, must be adequately tackled for local government to make positive impact in the localities.

    Ogezi noted that the disempowerment of the local government, lack of stability and autonomy did not provide for empowerment of the civil society or contribute to the overall development goal set in the Nigerian Constitution.

    According to her, “granting full autonomy to the grassroots will ensure the participation of the less privileged people in the planning, execution and monitoring of social and economic development of their localities.

     

    Is LG a tier of government?

    Some Nigerians are not excited by the Senate’s proposal to grant financial autonomy to local government. They described the move as contradictory to the principle of true federalism. Professor Ayo Olukotun of the Department of Political Science, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, said though the 1999 Constitution recognises local government as third tier of government, the Supreme Court ruling has put them under state governments.

    The university don said the lacuna created by the constitution has been solved by the apex court; local governments are not federating units; they are subordinate to the state government. The Supreme Court ruled that the state governments have the powers to determine the number of local governments required in a state, create new local governments or reduce them.

    Ogezi said: “Local governments are not sovereign, and unlike states, they are subordinate governments, which derive their existence and power from law enacted by a superior government. Those who opposed to local government autonomy have good reasons. They argued that local government is not technically a third-tier of government. It is merely a politico-administrative province of the state governments. It is the responsibility of each state government. Ideally, a state government should decide the form and the system of local government best suited to its political and administrative needs.

    She blamed the military for creating a constitutional problem since 1979 when it decided to define states by the composition of their local government areas. This, she said, had been used to argue, incorrectly, that states are not empowered by the constitution to create local government because doing so would require a constitutional amendment. They argued that a newly created local government area is perfected only when the schedule is amended and it is listed therein among the local governments in the state that created it.

    “It was under General Ibrahim Babangida reforms that local government became a third tier of government. It received its statutory share from the federation account directly from source, not through the state governments. The reforms abolished the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs or more correctly, it downgraded it to a division in the military governor’s office.

    “The Ibrahim Mantu committee on local government reform set up by the Olusegun Obasanjo, proposed a constitutional amendment on the local government system. It wanted local governments to receive their fund directly from the office of the accountant-general of the federation and the auditor-general of the federation to audit the accounts of the local governments.

    “The various reforms have muddled the concept of the local government. Although we do not seem to be entirely persuaded that the local government should be the third tier of government, its current structure makes it a de facto third tier of government. Federal and state structures are duplicated at the local government level: an executive arm headed by an executive local government chairman and unicameral legislature headed by the Speaker. Only one thing is missing: the judiciary as the third arm of local government. The local government stands on two legs instead of three”.

    The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has insisted that local councils are integral part of state governments. It premised its argument on the fact that in all known federation in the world, the federating units are usually the states and the centre. It stated that in a true federalism, the issue relating to the creation, delineation and funding of local authorities is within the constitutional purview of states, which have political and judicial status that the local government do not have. The states are federating units while local government are administrative units.

    The Forum agreed that local governments have politico-legal existence in so far as the constitution recognised them and even listed their names. “These local governments so named are the beneficiaries of federal allocation, just like the states and the federal governments. It is this existing arrangement that has made some to erroneously assume and even argue that the local governments are on the same level of autonomy as states and federal governments.”

    It described the present arrangement as a disruptive and abominable legacy of military rule. It was the practice of the military to create local governments and even states. Since the military went on a frenzy of proliferation of local governments, it took on itself the burden of its funding just as it was funding the states from the Federation Account.

    “The military passed on this legacy at its disengagement in 1999. Nevertheless, the issue of local government autonomy should only come into play within the context of their relationship with their states,” the NGF added.

     

  • ‘No third tier in federalism’

    ‘No third tier in federalism’

    Lagos State House of Assembly has a new year resolution. The Speaker, Mr. Yemi Ikuforiji, said the House will collaborate with Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on good governance, review existing laws after conducting an impact assessment and act as check and balance to the executive, in accordance with the principles of separation of powers and cooperative governance.

    “We are working toward fulfilling the campaign promises of the governor, lawmakers and our party. We will give support to the government to perform better. We will continue to follow the best practices in legislation through educative programmes. We will hold town hall meetings to collate the views of the constituents as properly required for law amendment in the interest of Lagosians”, he said.

    Ikuforiji, who revisited the controversy generated by the hotly contested traffic and cremation laws, told reporters in Lagos that the legislators supported the governor, in his bid to bring about uncommon change in a novel manner. He was accompanied by the Clerk of the House, Mr. Segun Abiru, and chairman of the House Committee on Information and Strategy, Mr. Segun Olulade.

    The Speaker described 2012 as a year of tension characterised by security challenge, Boko Haram threat and growing public disenchantment. He recalled that the House of Assembly was challenged by the desire of the governor to give more dividends of democracy to the people. “We therefore, resolved to give the best to Lagosians through collaborative engagement with the executive. Lagos is a pacesetter, a micro Nigeria and a state blessed with vast human and material resources. We realised that we must be on our toes all the time because more critical Nigerians reside here”, he said.

    The passage of the traffic and cremation laws pitched the public against the government last year. Ikuforiji explained that the traffic law was passed in the wider interest of 20 million Lagosians by their representatives. He emphasised that it was passed, following due process. “Opinions were collated and we discovered that greater Nigerians wanted the law to check insanity on the roads. We know that we have to work on the roads, but indiscipline on the part of road users is the greatest headache”, he added. Noting that the law is not a law of Moses, the Speaker said, if Lagosians demand for its review, the House will follow the dictates of the people. “We dill do the impact assessment of our laws and review them, based on the assessment”, he added.

    Like the traffic law, the cremation law was also hotly contested by religious bodies, which perceived cremation as alien. However, other stakeholders from cultures that permit it did not raise eyebrows. Ikuforiji clarified that the law did not insist on cremation, but it allows those who choose to be cremated to have their wish. “On weekly basis, we see hundreds of unclaimed corpses. At a time over 600 corpse were evacuated for mass burial, but the second day, the mortuaries were filled with more than 600 corpses”, he recalled.

    During the year, the Speaker was initially distracted by court summons over allegation of corruption leveled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Some people have insinuated that it was the fallout of perceived cold relationship between the executive and legislature in the state. But Ikuforiji dismissed it as a tissue of lies, saying that a cordial relationship exists between the two organs. He said the evidence was the governor tolerated the idea of an independent legislature. Ikuforiji said a master-servant relation does not exist between the House and executive, stressing that both organs collaborated for good governance last year. The Speaker acknowledged that there is no one going to court who will not feel the pains. But he rejected the notion that his ordeals were related to his political ambition in 2015. Ikuforiji said only God can determine the future. “Those after me know why they are after me. But as a believer, I think it is a trial a serious leader must go through. Tomorrow is too far to start predicting what you want to be. The creator may have a different plan for you. We are just getting to the first half of this tenure. We should concentrate on the present”, he said.

    The Speaker described this year as the last full year of total governance before 2015 elections, stressing that the House must act with speed. He acknowledged that Governor Fashola will be on the neck of the 40 legislators to cooperate with him so that he can deliver more dividends to Lagosians. He said that was why the House passed the 2013 budget without delay.

    Ikuforiji also spoke on the state of the nation. On state creation, he appealed for caution. He noted that some Lagosians have demanded that a new state be carved out of Lagos State. But he submitted that the majority of leaders and elders in the state have objected to the idea, which he described as a distraction that is counter-productive. His argument is that many states in the country are not viable. “Most of the states in the country are not better than the local government. Many of them should be merged. How many states can stand on their own? Only Lagos generates 60 per cent of its revenue. That was why the state survived when former President Olusegun Obasanjo withheld council allocation,” he explained.

    In the same vein, the Speaker said the debate on local government autonomy is unnecessary, pointing out that ”Our Federation is a federation of states, and not federation of local governments”. He said the agitators were leaning on the defective 1999 Constitution to ask for the impossible under federalism. In his view, the dark side of the 1999 Constitution is the listing of the local governments in the constitution. The constitution should only guarantee the creation of local government by the states. It is true that many state governors have overbearing influence on the local government. It should not be so. Local government is the baby of the House of Assembly. That is what the constitution says,” he stressed.

    Ikuforiji urged Lagosians to intensify their clamour for special status for the state. He recalled that the first motion he moved in the House in 2003 focused on the issue. “Throughout the world, former capital cities are not neglected. In Lagos, federal infrastructure are abandoned. The Federal Government is generating waste in Lagos. All Nigerians are present in Lagos. There is no family without an ambassador in Lagos. It should be the responsibility of a responsible Federal Government to pamper Lagos. Even, people from Niger Republic riding okada in Lagos are fighting the state government over the traffic law. The Federal Government should ensure the progress and survival of Lagos. The Federal Government can sponsor ring roads, rail projects and other special projects in the state for the benefit of Nigerians in Lagos State,” he added.