Author: Ayodele Fagbohun
Prior to the unfortunate and inglorious military incursion into Nigeria’s political administration on the fateful January 16, 1966, local government council, as the unit of government nearest to the populace, was able to respond directly to the needs, yearnings and aspirations of the people who ardently desired to govern themselves democratically.
No sooner the military jackboots started in earnest its reign of totalitarism and impunity against the constitution and democratic ethos interest in the people than the military rulers adroitly imposed their own regimented style of administration.
It is sad, disturbing that the advent of military rule put an end to the existing structure of federal system, imposed unitary system and eventually consigned the local government closer to the people, and a foreboding development on the future of local government structure in the country!
Contrary to the avalanche of criticisms and strictures trailing the agitations for local government’s autonomy, the Nigerian constitution, as amended by the erstwhile military overlords, does not recognize local government as any tier of government, but a mere adjunct to state government which legally remains the only federating unit.
Nonetheless, the demands and present harsh economic and political realities dictate that local government, as the only unit of responsible and vital government nearest to the people, must be cultivated and thoroughly overhauled in a democratic setting, this time around, to actualize in geometric terms the needs of the people heavily traumatized and abjectly neglected at the grassroots.
However, a local government must be flexible enough to adjust quickly to local needs, problems and anxieties and to provide immediate services to the people.
Towards this end, 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.
Decentralization will increase the feeling of participation and self-esteem of the people in the countryside.
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, footpaths, markets, weights and measures, public 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 well experienced public spirited men and women imbued with public good at heart.
In a society so decadent and laissez-faire where politics is an entertainment with quick rich mania rather than a serious and earnest concern for the service and improvement of human kind, there is a need for caution and government’s restraint not to attempt to commit large public funds in the local government’s coffers which could 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 and spirited efforts of government wasted or frittered away, to entrust the serious affairs of the people at the grassroots in the hands of the debauched, inexperienced, frivolous and sincurist, venal politicians on the corridors of power.
Constitutionally, and by the verdict of Supreme Court on local government autonomy recently, local government is now fine tuned or on the road to play its statutory role in the grassroots often more than not at receiving ends.
Kudos for the rare initiative, intellectual and strategic capacity of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to recognize for performance local government as a major player in the growth, progress and unity of our great country.
Besides, I crave the indulgence of my reader to quote extensively from Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s writings on the basic principles which illuminate the functions, practice 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 its own peril.
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Hear him: “Local government serves 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-emphasised.
“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, as hitherto, must subscribe either materially or otherwise to the growth and development of the local government to meet the yearnings, expectations and aspirations of respective farmsteads, hamlets, villages, sub-towns and constitute the council areas.
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 civil rule alike.
The overriding interest of the people is to bequeath a virile 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 administrations in the old western Nigeria, the rural development programme was the chief corner stone for national development geared towards total transformation of the rustic and rural development.
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 flourishing farm settlements across Western Region known as “opticon” services with basic amenities viz: light, portable water supply, primary health care delivery designed to stem urban/rural drift.
If not for the 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.
Community policing is sine qua non to fish out criminals and men of the underworld from their hideouts in the nooks and crannies of the local government areas.
Vigilance is the price of liberty. The people must work hand in gloves with the police and the Amotekun security operatives on intelligence gathering networks. They must be proactive enough to nip in the bud the intractable menace of insecurity and banditry.
In conclusion, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves tribute for thinking deeply on way forward to rejuvenate the ailing local government administration in the country whose fortunes and assets are daily squandered, frittered and depleted by some political upstarts in government lacking the spiritual depth and mental magnitude to fix the local government structure for the good of the country.
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