An Assessment of Local Government Autonomy in Nigeria.
Local Government is the third tiers of government. As the name implies,local government serves as an avenue to bring government to the grassroots. Be it as it may, According to orewa and Adewumi (1992:20) defines local government as: A system of local communities and towns which are organised to maintain law and order; provide some limited range of social services and co-operation of the inhabitants in joint endeavours toward the improvements of their conditions of living…..(1992:20). Appadorai (1975:287); Local government is government by he popularly elected bodies charged with administrative and executive duties in matters concerning the inhabitants of a
particular place or district.
There is no gainsaying that Local government is best practice in a democratic system of government than military because of the structure and nature of it’s constitutional responsibilities. This assertion can be corroborated by taking into cognizance, the popular definition of democracy coined from the word of Abraham Lincoln who sees democracy as “Government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. However, this is not to say that the military system of government does not recognise the Local Government as the third tier of government but it’s duties and responsibilities is more spelt out in civil- democratic system..
What is then Autonomy?
According to Wikipedia, Autonomy is the right or condition of self government..However Local government Autonomy connotes the process where the third tier of government is allowed to run its activities with little or no interference from the Federal or state government. Hence, the duties and functions of Local Government are explicitly and scrutiny spells out in the 4th schedule of the 1999 constitution .
At this juncture, the critical and fundamental question that might arise from the foregoing discussion is that,
does local government actually reserve the Autonomy to govern itself without undue interference from the other tiers of government (federal and/or state )?
This question arises as a result of the fact that over the years, local government in Nigeria have not been to stand the test of time in bringing government to the grassroots. It is debatable to say that the power and autonomy of local government are only spelt out in papper but in reality, they can be likened to a toothless bulldog. This is because the Autonomy that is expected to be enjoyed by this level of government in other to see to the welfare and well-being of the people at the grassroots have been hijacked by the state government in the way and manner stated below;
Financial Control; by the virtue of section 162 (5,6,7 & 8) of the 1999 constitution, it is categorically stated that allocation should be sent down to local government from RMAFC and which it is mostly determined by the Federal government. In most cases, allocations at times are sent down to state government then later share to the local government which means the direct allocation system form is sweept under the carpet. In this regard, government either the state or federal might seize or hijack the allocation meant for a certain local government if as a result that the head of the local government either does not come from same political parties which the governor of president come from or goes contrary to the directives of his boss.Moreover, there might be power tussle between State and Chairman as far as Autonomy is concerned and this may cause problem for local government to survive onl the limited resources it has
Local government could bow to pressure from the state or federal government as a result of unrecognised power to determine who to mount the leadership position of the Latter; It has become custom and tradition that aspirants use to be an errand boy because of a position. As a result of this, it doesn’t save the Autonomy of the local government neither recognises the interest of the citizens to elect their choices
It’s furthermore noted that problems facing local government could serve as an ecombrances, or challenges that make Autonomy of the local government in doubt. Such problems are
1.Limited resources which the local government could have ; If not all, most of the local government generate low IGR from it’s eviron and as a result of this, local government might as result of this seek help from the state to finance projects or to pay for salaries and allowances of its workers..so this makes local government bow to pressure or dance to whatever tunes that might come from its boss
2.Administrative Inefficiency. one of the challenges facing Local governments in Nigeria is inability to run effectively and efficiently arising from lack of administrative staff, low level of educational qualifications of staff, poor reminiration, autocratic leadership, poor working atmosphere among others. For local government to be able to provide governance at the grassroots level, there is need for government at the higher level to address the points raised above.
3.Power Usurpation: Local government in Nigeria today suffer from power usurpation by the higher level of government or political class. For a local government chairman to be appointed or elected into office, he/she has to be a loyalist to the camp of the ruling party in that state. The constitution provides for election into the chairmanship office at each local government. However, the reverse is the case in most cases as some governors only appoint caretaker committee from the beginning of their administration to the end. This factor has made many local government to be subject of the state government, thereby threatening their autonomy.
4. Corruption:
No doubt, corruption has eaten deep into the nation’s fabric to the extent that it has no second hand value. It a national virus that cut across every sector of the economy. The government at the grassroots too is not left out, the money that is meant for community development is been siphoned by the local administrator for their personal interest. Little wonder corruption is one main reason most state government usually put forward as concrete reason to control local government allocations.
Conclusively, one can deduce from the aforesaid points in lieu of local government autonomy that, if at this time, these aforementioned points are not addressed, the word Autonomy cannot be label to local government as a government that is free to run its activities on its own.
Sources: 1999 Constitution
Wikipedia
English dictionary
Written by Bello Abdulsobur
olalekan a student of Bayero University kano
Olabobo85@gmail.com
08133777266
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