By Banji Ayoola
Some eminent Nigerians including human rights lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, SAN; Dr (Mrs Aluko of the Department of Local Government Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile Ife; and a former National President of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Comrade Deji Akinwalere, have recommended national dialogue as an imperative to resolve the travails of insecurity, insurgency, ethnic and religious clashes, secession threats, cyber-crime and other challenges confronting the country.
Besides, they advised devolution of power to the local governments, which they said should be made autonomous, strong and functional bedrock of a truly federal new Nigeria.
They made the recommendations as the kernel of deliberations at the second Adebutu Good Governance Symposium held at Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Oke Mosan, Abeokuta, Ogun State, which held under the theme “Local government autonomy: A panacea for national development.”
Ozekhome, Aluko and Akinwalere were the lead discussants at the forum, which also drew contributions from past Local Government Chairmen in Ogun State; traditional rulers, businessmen and politicians.
Also on ground is the Chairman of Adebutu Good Governance Symposium Committee, Dr (Mrs) Omotayo Agunbiade.
In the communiqué issued at the end of the national discourse by Lado Resource Goup, the discussants described effective local governance as necessity for national development and for the grassroots to break away from the dilemma of “democracy without governance,” which councils have suffered for years.
It stressed the need for a “National Dialogue to address the travails currently facing the Nation at the moment.”
Specifically, it said that local government autonomy should be rooted in civic engagement of the people, empowered to determine reform or replace policies for their common good.
Also, they called for financial independence of local governments from state governments.
They regretted that though, the revolutionary 1976 Local Government Reforms of the Olusegun Obasanjo military administration granted state governments unfettered discretion to decide on the powers of their local governments, state governments have crippled the local governments by creating the State Joint Local Government Account (SJLGA), which “has frustrated attempts to establish the third tier and autonomous status of local governments.”
They recommended among others true decentralisation/devolution of powers to enable local governments carry out fiscal, political and administrative functions and an overhaul of functions being carried out by local governments to ensure they are optimized for productivity.
They saw the constitutional provision which empowers state governors to conduct Local Government Election as a significant challenge for Local Councils to gain autonomy. This is because, as they noted, governors have turned council election into a process of empowering bootlickers at the councils as their yes boys.
To solve this problem, they suggested that henceforth, “Local Government Elections should be taken away from the State Governments and handed to the national election management body. When credible elections are allowed to take place, the electorate will have a legitimate means of exercising their franchise and choosing their leaders, progress can be assured.”
The communiqué said: “All politics are local and so should development be too. This is because the old way of “trickle down” has failed abysmally.
“We need more capable people who are willing to serve at the local level and make their impact felt at the grassroots. Local Governments should focus on improving systems and processes to ensure efficiency of their functions to attain optimum productivity.”
It added: “Transparent process of Open Local Government should be developed; openness of accounts to scrutiny; transparent process of decision-making and public information should be encouraged.
A culture of Transparent local Government i.e. Accountability to communities; a Probity Watch Mechanism to frustrate corrupt tendencies”
Other fundamental recommendations it made to achieve local government autonomy as the foundation on which other spheres of government are built, include:
- Constitutional recognition for local governments and the need for constitutionalism;
- Creating a new political system that recognizes our indigenous culture, philosophy and traditional constitutional system to evolve;
- Giving more responsibilities to the traditional rulers for more effective management of their localities;
- Ability for local government’s representatives to elect their own representatives;
- Partnership, decentralization and mutual respect between the various tiers of governance;
- Mobilization of financial resources, peer reviews and exchanges to end poverty and misery;
- Continuous capacity building and training programmes for government for strong local democracy and good governance;
- Empowering the people to reform and replace policies for their common good through civic engagement; and
- Accountability to communities, transparent process of decision making, openness to scrutiny, inclusiveness, adequate resource
allocation and equitable service delivery.
It said: “Due to the fact that True Federalism is not practiced in Nigeria, Decentralization, should be considered because it is a fundamental political and economic strategy for achieving sustainable development, democratic and participatory governance which will allow for the transfer of fiscal, political and administrative responsibilities to lower levels of Government.
“Decentralisation as a self-governance model supports organising and channeling popular collective choice and action rather than imposing policy and solutions from the centre.
“Devolving power to local governments under a deliberate policy of devolution and decentralization is key to ensuring that citizens feel the impact of the Local Council, more easily as compared to a situation where only a central government exists in name.
“Around the world, there is a demand from different quarters for increase in the degree of autonomy availed to local governments. This demand has been amplified by increasing population, paucity of funds, technological advancement, globalisation and so on.
“However, Local Governments still do the biddings of other levels of government because these other levels are the sources of local governments’ sustenance. Both tiers of government should be independent of one another.
“Effective local governance is very necessary for the national development at the grassroots as a way to break “democracy without governance” which is a dilemma of the State. Autonomy will give vitality to the institutions of
governance.”
According to the communiqué: “Transparent process of Open Local Government should be developed; openness of accounts to scrutiny; transparent process of decision-making and public information should be encouraged -a culture of Transparent local Government i.e. Accountability to communities; a Probity Watch Mechanism to frustrate corrupt tendencies.
“Adequate and equitable resource allocation, independent and secured revenue base; equitable service delivery: A balance between nationally-set standards and locally-set priorities.
“Continuous capacity building of officials to build strong local democracy and model of good governance is imperative.
“Personnel and Human Resource issues such as politicization of recruitment, selection and placement, interference of State authorities through the local government commissions have contributed to the inefficiency of Local
Governments. There has to be a mechanism to prevent this challenge to good local governance.
“Local government autonomy is guaranteed – fiscally and politically – if local governments focus on efficient and effective public service delivery for national development.”
It said: “Service delivery is the very essence of government and by the strategic closeness of local government to the grassroots.
“This is the tier of government that serves as more of the Government of the People, by the People and for the People, than any other level of government in Nigeria.
“Local Government Autonomy is the only way to effective local governance which by implication is the panacea for national development.”
