Are LGs centres of development?

By Ayodele Fagbohun
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In view of an avalanche of criticism and strictures trailing the agitation for local government’s autonomy, the Nigerian constitution does not recognize local government as any tier of government but adjunct to state government which legally remains the only federating unit.

None the less, the demands and present hash socio-economic realities dictate that local government, as the only unit of government nearest to the grassroots, should be able to respond directly to the needs of the people who wish to govern themselves democratically.

It stands to reason therefore that a local government council must graduate, in view  of the exigencies of time, to an essential and paramount tier of government, to perform its allotted functions as adumbrated in the constitution.

A local government council must be flexible enough to adjust quickly to local needs and problems; and to provide immediate service to its people.

Thus, it is strongly canvassed in responsible quarters, that for development to take place, government must be decentralized to give the local government greater power to organize and carry out its own policies and projects for the improvement of lives within its jurisdiction.

Decentralisation will increase the feeling of participation and self-esteem of the people in the country side.

The functions of local government are wide, diverse and peculiar to its respective environment.

However, some of the functions capable of sustaining public interest may be itemized as follows:  libraries, infant welfare centres, and street lighting.

Others are: roads, bridges, foot paths, markets, weights and measures, pubic cemeteries, abattoirs, et al.

The above mentioned functions and other unstated ancillary roles for effective and efficient service in local government administration cannot be  without being aggressively managed by a team of self disciplined and public spirited titans imbued with public good at heart.

In a society so decadent, laissez-faire where politics is an entertainment with quick rich maniac rather than a serious and earnest concern for the service and improvement of human kind, there is need for caution and government’s restraint not to attempt to commit large public funds in the local government’s coffers which could be turned to war chest for the rampaging and ravenous political functionaries and their collaborators in the public service.

In absolute and clear terms, it is foolhardy to trust the affairs of the people especially of the grassroots in the hands of the debauched, the frivolous and the sinecurist political brigands gallivanting on the corridors of power.

This paper makes bold to humbly submit for effective administration and meaningful development as there is underlying proviso which makes local government the exclusive function of state government.

The system should be finetuned to play its statutory role in the life and destiny of the grassroots.

Besides, I crave the indulgence of my reader to quote extensively from Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s writing on the basic principles which illuminate the functions and importance of local government. Any attempt to gloss over the essential features of local government in our parliamentary democracy is at the extinction and peril process or experiment.

Hear him: “Local government serve the dual purpose of being the foundation on which the state and federal governments, rest and the agencies through which the state government and occasionally the federal government as well, touch the lives of the people intimately.

They do more, at their level, the practice of democracy is much nearer the ideal than either at the state or federal level. The local government ward is in most places, small enough for its entire membership to meet and confer regularly, and for a conscientious  councilor to have personal contact with every man, or woman, boy or girl.

“Furthermore, local governments provide so many areas for training in public management and afford opportunities for participation in public life to many more public-spirited citizens than would ever have chance at or even reach the state or federal level.

“In short, the importance of local government in fostering a democratic way of life, in promoting good government and in sustaining the state and federal governments, cannot be over-emphasized.

“It is imperative, therefore, that it should be strengthened and democratized wherever it is known to be weak and undemocratic.”

Towards this end, the people must not hesitate to subscribe either materially or otherwise to the growth and development of the local administration to meet the yearnings, expectations and aspirations of respective farmsteads, hamlets, villages, sub-towns and towns that constitute the council areas.

The deplorable outing of some political functionaries and their corrupt venal civil servants in the local government’s misrule over the years, leaves much to the desired. The preponderance of public opinion is not favourably disposed towards granting financial autonomy to local government for now due to lack of proven probity accountability and transparency in the conduct of government business.

Besides, the ideas is bizarre and grotesque. It runs contrary to the constitution, extant norms and best practices in contemporary history as noted in the preamble of this essay.

Now, it is imperative that the nation must open a new vista for development and rapid progress which is sine qua non to the basic needs and demands of the people in the countryside.

We should adhere strictly to the basic principles and tenets of democracy; by scrupulously avoiding the twain evil of corruption and maladministration which brought about the tragic failure and demise of the previous administrations; the military and the civil alike.

The overriding interest of the people is to bequeath a local government structure which should be a nursery of our democracy to meet the basic needs of the people on the condition that the managers of the council area will work hard, be patriotic and self abnegated enough to register their names positively on the hearts of the people after they might have left office.

Apart from free education policy of the defunct Action Group and Unity Party of Nigeria government in the Western Nigeria; rural development programme was the Chief corner stone for national development geared towards total transformation of the rustic, and rural environment.

No wonder, it is often asserted that the fortune of local government councils have always been tied to the fate of the political party of a particular leader with enlarged vision, zeal and mission for the people to grow and flourish regardless of wherever they live.

To buttress this assertion, both the UPN and Action Group controlled  administrations ably led by indomitable Awo who introduced farm settlements across Western Region known as “opticom” services with basic amenities viz light, portable water, primary health care facility designed to stem urban/rural drift.

If not for rude military incursion which abruptly terminated the populist and welfarist programmes, the government would have increased the tempo of good governance with its concomitant security in the rural areas.

There is urgent need for community policing more than hither to fish out criminals and men of underworld from their hideouts in the nooks and crannies of the country.

Vigilance is the price of liberty. The people must work hand in glove with the police and other security operatives in their onerous task of intelligence gathering networks, be proactive enough to nip in the bud the intractable menace of insecurity and banditry.

All these will only be “sound and fury” if not entrenched in the constitutional provision and the current primitive attitudinal change of our leaders towards good and progressive governance.

Accordingly, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who had played a leading role in the work of constitution-making in Nigeria since 1949 advocated as follows: “The state legislature or Government should not have the power to suspend or dissolve a local government council in any circumstance, during the council’s statutory term of office.

Secondly, “elections to local government councils should be conducted every 3 years, and at least three-fourths of members of any council should be directly elected by the registered voters in the area of the council.”

For equity, justice transparency and accountability, this constitutional provision should be uniform throughout the country.

Can the local government elected chairmen and the councilors take up the gauntlet without stabbing the people on whose back they rise to power?