By Aloy Uzoekwe
It is a known fact that the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) in its Fourth Schedule, gave right to the existence of the local governments as the third tier of government in the federation. This third tier is the one closest to the people amongst the three tiers of government. And yet this third tier has also come to be accepted as the most abused of the three tiers of government in the country.
The abuse is perpetrated by no other than the Governors of the 36 states of Nigeria, in different forms. The form of abuse varies from state to state. Some states worked out a system whereby the monthly allocations due to the local governments in the States from the Federation Account are shared between the state government and local governments on agreed ratios and hold periodic local government elections to present a semblance of constitutionalism at the third tier level. There are other states which balkanised the structure along the Development Centre’s idiosyncrasy and proceed to dole out handouts to the local governments as the state government deems fit. Yet there are some states that give free reins to the local governments to exist as the Constitution stipulates.
But no state in Nigeria compares in brazen subjugation of the local government administration as the Anambra State Government. Since the advent of the present democratic dispensation in 1999, the State has conducted local government elections only once (January, 2014). The former local government elected officers whose tenure ended in 2002 had their election organized by the military in December, 1998 as part of the then transition to civil rule in May, 1999. The height of rape on the local government administration in Anambra State is the abridgement of the tenure of the elected local government officers produced by the only election of January 2014 by the present administration that inherited them. They were sent packing by the State Government in 2016.
The question then arises, who had been administering the Local Governments (21 in number) in the State since 2016? The local governments in Anambra State have been administered since 2016 (four years on) by a caretaker arrangement put in place by the state government. At a time, a most worrisome illegal model was applied by the state government to administer the LGs. The Heads of Local Government Administration (HLGA) of the twenty-one local government areas were made to act as the Chairmen of the local governments. For starters, HLGA are the equivalent of Head of Service in the State civil service. So we had a situation where civil servants work, supervise and report to themselves in the Local Governments. Presently, we have caretaker Local Government Chairmen who have been carrying on in that unelected position for more than three years. Most of them operate from the comfort of their homes or wherever it pleases them but not from the local government headquarters.
The effects of this most heinous system of local government administration in the state are moribund local governments’ councils, a dispirited, confused and rudderless local government work force left to their whims daily. Communities denied direct development impact from the local governments, and the demise of a real political training architecture for future leaders. I will explain.
With the local government functions usurped by the State Government at Awka (the State capital), the local governments workers have little or nothing to do aside from signing various certificates and marriage registers. The workers stay at work idle as there is no executive body to draw up any agenda for the local governments. Added to this is the total death of infrastructural development programme for the communities within the local governments. Because all funds due to the local governments are appropriated by the State Government, the local governments lack the wherewithal to initiate or implement any developmental programmes more so when approval for such must first be sought from Awka. In the past four years, no community in the State can point to any project as one executed by the Local Government. It is hard to believe it is the same local government system which had the likes of the late Engr. Godwin Osele of Aguata Local Government Area, Chief Okey Muoaroh of Idemili South Local Government Area and others (1999 – 2002) competing with the then State Government on the infrastructural upliftment of their Local Government Areas.
Perhaps the most inimical effect of the lack of legitimate officers in our local governments is the erosion of grassroots-groomed political administrators in the State. Local governments from all intents and purposes serve as the primary training ground for future political leaders. It is where skills are honed and exposure obtained for bigger tasks. The strides and successes of Local Government systems in the other states attest to this; persons like Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers and Senator Ike Ekweremadu of Enugu State are products of robust local government systems. These two men among others like them garnered requisite experiences at the local government level and it aided their political progression and successes. In Anambra State there is no eminent political office holder who is a product of the local governments political system. Opportunities for on the job training and experience are thereby discarded paving way for greenhorns in all areas.
In the face of glaring rape and the continuous bastardisation of the Local Government system in the State coupled with the alleged collusion of the State House of Assembly, it is befuddling the silence and nonchalance of the elite of Anambra State to the misnomer. Anambra State has an avalanche of men and women of “timber and calibre” (apologies to the late Chief K.O Mbadiwe), a roll call of them will be a job for another day. So why are these elite silent while they watch the government deliver in its tethers in their stead? Is their aloofness because the majority of their investments/capital (in whatever form) are not within the State? Or is their silence curried, cowed or coerced? What are they telling the people about their comfortable acceptance of the stultification of the local governments in the state? What are the Civil Societies doing about the maladministration? The opposition political parties, why are they speechless and appear helpless too? For how long will the State’s local governments be allowed to remain comatose without anybody raising a voice? More is expected of the elite at this crucial time. They should speak up, hold the State Government to account on its Local Government system and be the voice of the people against the obnoxious practice. Now is not the time for sitting on the fence, or not wanting to upset the applecart. The local governments in Anambra State are near death, they need to be revived from coma.
The position of the State House of Assembly on the condition of the local governments in the state is understandable. The State Legislature is a mere extension of the Executive arm of the government. The composition of the House of Assembly and the way the majority of the members found themselves in the house, make it impossible for the State House of Assembly to rise up to its duties. But there is a question the members of the Anambra State House of Assembly have to answer about their role in the forced control of the Local Governments by the State Government; is it true that their “see no evil, say no evil” disposition to the malaise is influenced by the accrual of a certain percentage of the Local Governments’ allocations to them monthly? Their response to this allegation will go a long way in clearing the fog surrounding their position.
Whatever misgivings the state government may have about the local governments or however sweet the free funds as represented by the local governments allocations may taste to the State Government, the Anambra State Government should toe the path of constitutionalism and conduct elections into the 21 Local Government Councils of the State. Whatever factor that is withholding the local government elections; the reported non settlement of the allowances of the sacked 2014-2016 local government officers (four years after) or the lack of political will, should be addressed and legality enthroned in the State’s Local Government system. This is the path of honour. It behoves on all men and women of goodwill, wherever may be their leaning, to agitate for this honourable course. The benefits of having constitutionally elected officers administering the affairs of the Local Government Councils far outweigh the gains of the illegality we presently have in the State.
- Hon. Aloy Uzoekwe wrote via uzoekweao@yahoo.com
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