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THISDAY
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D/INDEPENDENT
The nation
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Ghana Times
Quest for LG autonomy and governors’ opposition
_________________________________________________________
By Michael Jegede
Sunday, Jan 13, 2012
Sunday, Jan 13, 2012
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Autonomy for Local Government (LG), which is the third tier of
government in Nigeria, is one of the cardinal issues listed for
consideration in the current effort of the National Assembly to further
review the 1999 constitution to meet the yearnings and aspirations
of the Nigerian people.
As a way of ensuring that Nigerians are completely carried along in
the exercise, both chambers of the federal legislature in November
2012 held public sessions and public hearings to get the people’s
input on all the items to be considered for review and amendment.
The House of Representatives held the people’s public sessions
across the 360 federal constituencies, while the Senate conducted
public hearings in the six geo-political zones of the country.
Reports at the end of the exercise by the Green and Red chambers
of the National Assembly clearly indicated that majority of Nigerians
(both the high and the low in the society) are in total support of the
strengthening of local government councils via autonomy. It was
indeed the only item that got the ‘yes vote’from participants in all the
360 federal constituencies. Similarly, various speakers at the zonal
public hearings spoke very strongly in favour of LG autonomy.
Unfortunately, the recent outburst by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum
(NGF) has shown that the governors are mainly the only group that
does not think there is need for any form of autonomy for the
effective and efficient running of the local government
administration. NGF chairman, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State,
reportedly said they (governors) will do everything possible as a
pressure group to stop lawmakers (state and federal) from granting
autonomy to local governments.
Asked why the governors were opposed to local council autonomy,
while addressing newsmen, Amaechi said: “Let a state governor or
let the states create as many local governments as they want to
create. Don’t put it there as a constitutional issue… The governors
are a pressure group, if we succeed in putting the pressure on both
National and State Assemblies and say look there are two tiers of
governance.There is no country in the world where there are three
federating units; there are only two all over the world. Why should
you say that there must be third federating units in Nigeria?”
Notwithstanding the whys and wherefores propounded by the NGF
for kicking against the agitation for independent LGs, informed
Nigerians know the real motive behind their stance on the matter. It
is a known fact that state governments are in the habit of
emasculating local governments under their control, thereby
reducing them to mere appendages against their recognition as the
third tier of government in the constitution.
The governors have continued to take advantage of the deficiency
in the constitution, where even though local councils are
acknowledged as a tier of government, framers of the constitution
failed to give them the full autonomy needed to operate as such.
Local governments are diametrically subjected to the control of the
state governments, in a manner that they really cannot do anything
on their own. And this, in the views of most Nigerians, has adversely
affected development at the local council level.
Reacting to the position of the NGF, Vice Chairman of Senate
Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman said
there was no cause for alarm. According to the Senator,
representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, the governors do not
have the constitutional power to hinder the granting of autonomy to
LGs in the ongoing constitution review process.
Abatemi-Usman, whose bill seeking for financial autonomy for local
governments had scaled through seconding reading and was
referred to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in March
last year, argued that of all the items listed for consideration, nothing
could be more necessary than LG autonomy. He observed that the
operation of the state/local government joint account as currently
practiced was an aberration that must be corrected in the interest of
Nigerians, regardless of the position of the governors.
His words: “I have always been an advocate of autonomy for local
governments. This was what prompted me to put up a bill for their
financial autonomy when I became a Senator in 2011 to free them
from the stranglehold and claws of the state governors. I am very
much happy that the entire Nigerian people have seen the need for
local governments to be granted autonomy, as reflected in the public
people’s sessions held by the House of Representatives in the 360
federal constituencies and the public hearing conducted by the
Senate in the six geo-political zones. Therefore, the people’s desire
will definitely prevail over that of the governors. How can they
(governors) stand against the wish of the generality of Nigerians,
who elected them into office?”
Also, in his reaction, Chairman Senate Committee on Media and
Publicity, Senator Eyinanya Abaribe was reported to have said that
the position of the governors on local government autonomy is not
binding. The Senate spokesman said it is the public opinion
expressed through the National Assembly and the various State
Assemblies that would determine the autonomy of local government
administration, while acknowledging that the governors are however
entitled to their notion on the issue.
Abaribe was quoted as saying that, “If at the end of the day, the bill
on the autonomy for local government administration passes through
the two chambers of the National Assembly, there will be no problem
as we will just follow the constitution, and if it doesn’t work, then it is
not our fault as we now know who does not want democracy to work
at that level.”
Minister of Interior, Abba Moro had equally lent his voice to the
debate on local government autonomy in an interview. An expert in
local government administration, Moro was a council chairman for
about eight years and one-time chairman of the Benue State chapter
of Association of local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
Responding to questions in the course of the media chat, he said: “I
am an advocate for a holistic autonomy for local governments. I want
a situation where the local government will operate as a true tier of
government. We are operating federalism, a federalism that is
epitomized or encapsulated in the three tiers of government of the
federal, state and local government. And so, I expect that the
framers of the constitution would have gone further than the scanty
provisions in section 7 of the constitution of the federal republic of
Nigeria 1999 to a level where provisions should have been made for
the local governments to get their allocation direct from the
federation account, for the local governments to exercise jurisdiction
over their revenue avenues, and for the local government chairmen
to run these local governments as a third tiers, as the lowest tiers of
government, in which case they should be free to take their
decisions. They should be free to be accountable to the people who
have elected them.”
Other prominent Nigerians in the likes former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, erstwhile Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former
Senate President Senator Ken Nnamani have likewise not hidden
their total support for an autonomous local government system in
Nigeria. For instance, Obasanjo who spearheaded the 1976 local
government reform, recently, lamented that the essence of creatin
local governments had been defeated, when he received the
national executives of ALGON at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun
State. While advocating for financial autonomy for LGs, the former
number-one citizen of the country said “Since the National Assembly
is considering constitution amendment, it is also important to amend
the local government laws so that there would be no means the
states will ‘ambush’ the local government money and there will also
be ways we can call the local governments to order or make them
accountable.”
Even the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who was once a
governor, is on the side of the people on the debate for LG
autonomy. I think the President understands that it is not about what
obtains in other part of the world, as posited by Amaechi, the NGF
boss, but what the people who elected him into office are asking for.
It is my hope therefore that members of the National Assembly and
State Assemblies, who are constitutionally empowered to effect
changes in the constitution on behalf the people, would not pander
to the whims and caprices of the governors, in their Machiavellian
move to ensure continued emasculation of the local governments.
The legislators must know that the people hold them in high esteem.
And so, any attempt to disappoint them (the Nigerian people)in order
to favour the governors may lead to loss of trust and confidence.
Michael Jegede, a media practitioner wrote from Abuja 07065574368
government in Nigeria, is one of the cardinal issues listed for
consideration in the current effort of the National Assembly to further
review the 1999 constitution to meet the yearnings and aspirations
of the Nigerian people.
As a way of ensuring that Nigerians are completely carried along in
the exercise, both chambers of the federal legislature in November
2012 held public sessions and public hearings to get the people’s
input on all the items to be considered for review and amendment.
The House of Representatives held the people’s public sessions
across the 360 federal constituencies, while the Senate conducted
public hearings in the six geo-political zones of the country.
Reports at the end of the exercise by the Green and Red chambers
of the National Assembly clearly indicated that majority of Nigerians
(both the high and the low in the society) are in total support of the
strengthening of local government councils via autonomy. It was
indeed the only item that got the ‘yes vote’from participants in all the
360 federal constituencies. Similarly, various speakers at the zonal
public hearings spoke very strongly in favour of LG autonomy.
Unfortunately, the recent outburst by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum
(NGF) has shown that the governors are mainly the only group that
does not think there is need for any form of autonomy for the
effective and efficient running of the local government
administration. NGF chairman, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State,
reportedly said they (governors) will do everything possible as a
pressure group to stop lawmakers (state and federal) from granting
autonomy to local governments.
Asked why the governors were opposed to local council autonomy,
while addressing newsmen, Amaechi said: “Let a state governor or
let the states create as many local governments as they want to
create. Don’t put it there as a constitutional issue… The governors
are a pressure group, if we succeed in putting the pressure on both
National and State Assemblies and say look there are two tiers of
governance.There is no country in the world where there are three
federating units; there are only two all over the world. Why should
you say that there must be third federating units in Nigeria?”
Notwithstanding the whys and wherefores propounded by the NGF
for kicking against the agitation for independent LGs, informed
Nigerians know the real motive behind their stance on the matter. It
is a known fact that state governments are in the habit of
emasculating local governments under their control, thereby
reducing them to mere appendages against their recognition as the
third tier of government in the constitution.
The governors have continued to take advantage of the deficiency
in the constitution, where even though local councils are
acknowledged as a tier of government, framers of the constitution
failed to give them the full autonomy needed to operate as such.
Local governments are diametrically subjected to the control of the
state governments, in a manner that they really cannot do anything
on their own. And this, in the views of most Nigerians, has adversely
affected development at the local council level.
Reacting to the position of the NGF, Vice Chairman of Senate
Committee on Niger Delta Affairs, Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman said
there was no cause for alarm. According to the Senator,
representing Kogi Central Senatorial District, the governors do not
have the constitutional power to hinder the granting of autonomy to
LGs in the ongoing constitution review process.
Abatemi-Usman, whose bill seeking for financial autonomy for local
governments had scaled through seconding reading and was
referred to the Senate Committee on Constitution Review in March
last year, argued that of all the items listed for consideration, nothing
could be more necessary than LG autonomy. He observed that the
operation of the state/local government joint account as currently
practiced was an aberration that must be corrected in the interest of
Nigerians, regardless of the position of the governors.
His words: “I have always been an advocate of autonomy for local
governments. This was what prompted me to put up a bill for their
financial autonomy when I became a Senator in 2011 to free them
from the stranglehold and claws of the state governors. I am very
much happy that the entire Nigerian people have seen the need for
local governments to be granted autonomy, as reflected in the public
people’s sessions held by the House of Representatives in the 360
federal constituencies and the public hearing conducted by the
Senate in the six geo-political zones. Therefore, the people’s desire
will definitely prevail over that of the governors. How can they
(governors) stand against the wish of the generality of Nigerians,
who elected them into office?”
Also, in his reaction, Chairman Senate Committee on Media and
Publicity, Senator Eyinanya Abaribe was reported to have said that
the position of the governors on local government autonomy is not
binding. The Senate spokesman said it is the public opinion
expressed through the National Assembly and the various State
Assemblies that would determine the autonomy of local government
administration, while acknowledging that the governors are however
entitled to their notion on the issue.
Abaribe was quoted as saying that, “If at the end of the day, the bill
on the autonomy for local government administration passes through
the two chambers of the National Assembly, there will be no problem
as we will just follow the constitution, and if it doesn’t work, then it is
not our fault as we now know who does not want democracy to work
at that level.”
Minister of Interior, Abba Moro had equally lent his voice to the
debate on local government autonomy in an interview. An expert in
local government administration, Moro was a council chairman for
about eight years and one-time chairman of the Benue State chapter
of Association of local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).
Responding to questions in the course of the media chat, he said: “I
am an advocate for a holistic autonomy for local governments. I want
a situation where the local government will operate as a true tier of
government. We are operating federalism, a federalism that is
epitomized or encapsulated in the three tiers of government of the
federal, state and local government. And so, I expect that the
framers of the constitution would have gone further than the scanty
provisions in section 7 of the constitution of the federal republic of
Nigeria 1999 to a level where provisions should have been made for
the local governments to get their allocation direct from the
federation account, for the local governments to exercise jurisdiction
over their revenue avenues, and for the local government chairmen
to run these local governments as a third tiers, as the lowest tiers of
government, in which case they should be free to take their
decisions. They should be free to be accountable to the people who
have elected them.”
Other prominent Nigerians in the likes former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, erstwhile Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former
Senate President Senator Ken Nnamani have likewise not hidden
their total support for an autonomous local government system in
Nigeria. For instance, Obasanjo who spearheaded the 1976 local
government reform, recently, lamented that the essence of creatin
local governments had been defeated, when he received the
national executives of ALGON at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun
State. While advocating for financial autonomy for LGs, the former
number-one citizen of the country said “Since the National Assembly
is considering constitution amendment, it is also important to amend
the local government laws so that there would be no means the
states will ‘ambush’ the local government money and there will also
be ways we can call the local governments to order or make them
accountable.”
Even the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who was once a
governor, is on the side of the people on the debate for LG
autonomy. I think the President understands that it is not about what
obtains in other part of the world, as posited by Amaechi, the NGF
boss, but what the people who elected him into office are asking for.
It is my hope therefore that members of the National Assembly and
State Assemblies, who are constitutionally empowered to effect
changes in the constitution on behalf the people, would not pander
to the whims and caprices of the governors, in their Machiavellian
move to ensure continued emasculation of the local governments.
The legislators must know that the people hold them in high esteem.
And so, any attempt to disappoint them (the Nigerian people)in order
to favour the governors may lead to loss of trust and confidence.
Michael Jegede, a media practitioner wrote from Abuja 07065574368
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