Whither Third Tier Governance

 Until August 1976, when the administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo and Late Brigadier Shehu Musa Yar'Adua issued its Guidelines on Local Government Reform, the creation, structure and operation of Local Governments were the sole responsibility of the regional and State Government.
During that period, Local Governments were extremely unstable, as they declined in power, financial resources and were unable to attract and maintain well-qualified personnel. The pre- 1976 Local Governments found it most difficult to operate partly because of overlapping functions and responsibilities of the State and Governments, or because of conflicts between the state and the Local Governments.
In all, the functions of Local Governments were not clearly defined and there were no clear distinctions of such functions between the Local Governments and the States/Regional Governments. It was therefore understandable to assess the performances of the Local Governments, which were so poor due primarily to the undefined relationship between them and the State Governments. The guidelines on Local Government reforms of 1976 by the then military administration was a welcome intervention which tend to draw a clear distinction of functions between the State and Local Governments purely on the necessity to stabilize and rationalize government at the local level. The aim of the 1976 reform was to add a new level of government below the Federal and State levels, being the third tier of government activity in the nation, which would have a high degree of autonomy from state control. The then Federal Military Government believed that it was only through an effective Local Government system that the human and material resources could be mobilized for local development. People at the local level were to share and participate in the decisions and plan to develop their areas.
The original intention of the Reform was to entrust political responsibility to where it was most crucial and most beneficial, that is to the people, with the hope of enshrining the principle of participatory democracy and of political responsibility to every Nigerian. By the 1976 Reforms, the mere acceptance of such by the State Governments, made them to virtually lose all their major powers over their Local Governments, except the power to supervise. Specifically, Local Government Council in an area must be a multi-purpose: single-tier institution with complete and self-contained budget. The 1976 Reform thus clearly defined the functions which Local Governments should perform, including all kinds of revenue they are to collect. Particularly, the 1976 Reform thus seriously weakened the traditional authority of the States over their Local Governments and also reduced the role of the State to that of a supervising authority, and a conduct through which Federal grants are passed on to Local Governments. The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in its fourth schedule has enunciated the provisions of statutory allocations to the Local Government Councils from the Federation and States accounts, and has also set out the constitutional functions of the Local Government Councils.
The primary objective for the creation or establishment of Local Government Councils, in the first instance, was and is still to bring concrete, feasible and viable developments to the grassroots the people. These developments were to have direct effects and meaningful impacts on the local populace.
This objective came as a result of the seeming expression of helplessness over the management of the wide array of transactions of the complex Nigerian State, at the National and or, at the state level. Today, the Federal Government has the widest functional jurisdiction, followed in descending order by the State and Local Governments, respectively. Under the autonomous status, Local Governments are to freely elect their own Legislators in a direct system of election, pass enabling bye-laws and implement them to the benefit of the people. The 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has presidential system of governance at the national, state, and local government levels. A reflection on the activities of Local Government Councils, particularly in Akwa Ibom State, under the presidential system of governance, shows that the actual objective of its establishment is defeated.
One of the greatest and positive effects of the establishment of Local Government Councils in the first instance and the introduction of the 1976 Reform, by strengthening and giving teeth to Local Government administration, was to allow the local populace to stay peacefully within the geographical boundaries of the various Local Councils. That is, the establishment and fortifications of the modus operandi of those Local Councils was for the upliftment of the living standard and of the welfare of the local populace. Added to this is the power over Local Government finance accorded the Local Councils by the reform and the 1999 constitution. The upliftment of the welfare and living standard of the local populace, is in the building of existing roads and opening of new ones: health, education, agriculture and natural resources, etc. A true and cursory look at the activities of these Local Councils show that a whole lot has to be done as the system needs a critical review in terms of re-formation, re-organization and re-vitalization. Local Councils are important in the promotion, coordination and implementation of community services.
Today, a careful appraisal of the operations of Local Councils in the State, nay, in the nation, shows that its original concept, its ideology, the genuine intention of its establishment, has been upturned by the managers and the supervisors of the well intended arrangement. I can vividly remember that while in office, the out-gone President of the Federal Republic, Chief Olesugun Obasanjo described the 774 Local Councils in the country woefully as mere “looting centers”. Between then and now, no Council's administrator has the gut or wit to challenge the statement. OBJ's statement therefore may not only be real, but a reference point. It has been asserted and proven that Local Council's administrators, past, present and even the in-coming, have no genuine developmental agenda for their people.
It is generally known that these administrators preside over the affairs of their respective Local Councils quite away from their respective domains. The attitude of these administrators suggests that they are not true representatives of their people. The just concluded Local Council elections in the State were predominantly an affairs of the ruling party, as the elected Chairmen and Councilors are the various consensus candidates previously selected. OBJ's uncontroversial statement is a clear indication that statutory allocations constitutionally granted the Local Councils for the upliftment of the living standard of the local populace are “looted” by the Local Councils' administrators.
It is freely discussed that Local Councils are always in full session whenever monthly allocations from the federation accounts are readily made available. It is a public discuss that these monthly allocations are principally for the purposes of meeting monthly staff salaries, wages of the political office holders and entertainments only. At the end of these disbursements, the Local Councils return to ghost towns, till the next available monthly federal allocations. It is well known that Local Councils hide under the developmental strides of the larger central government, to cover their inefficiencies; after all, the party's emblem of the central government is the canopy. Currently, the State Government is commissioning one project after another in the Local Government Area. After all, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) is also commissioning various projects within these Local Government Areas. The tendency therefore will be for the Local Councils to deceive its citizens that they in the first instance executed these commissioned projects. It is very real that Local Councils are conduit pipes in which the scarce resources of this nation are siphoned.
The unsatisfactory performances of these Local Councils, as enunciated by OBJ, has made the surge for Local Council administration an avenue for every Tom, Dick and Harry, to explore and exploit the Local Councils to the hurt and chagrin of the populace. That which is truly detrimental to the original concept of the creation/reform of the Local Councils is the negative dimension infused into the system by the supervisory body, the State Government in power. Local Council elections are not contested on the basis of committed or popular candidatures, but on the premise of belonging to the party in power. It has to be because the ruling party, together with the central government, which operates under the jinks and mundane ideology called capitalism, has decided to whitewash all reasonable competitions to oblivion. It may seem flourishing in foolishness for one to attempt to pry into or wish to contest for whatever elective office into the Local Council if such a person was not after all a consensus candidate. For real, capitalism has killed competition. As is the case, the resultant consequence or aftermath of the Local Council elections boils down to the fact made by our ex-President -looting centers. One may wish to ask -which Local Council, with the abundance of resources at its beck and call, can stand tall and proclaim an achievement of supplying water to its populace for full twenty-four hours? Or which Local Council has acquired a functional grader or tractor to enable its common peasant farmers have access to hire such for clearing and mowing of their farmlands for agricultural cultivation and production? The administration of Local Councils have been so bastardized that various Councils have thrown even environmental sanitation to the wind.
Most Council's headquarters have become evil forests where deer and antelopes could be hunted. I can recall when a serving military administrator in the state once ordered Local Council's Chairmen and Councilors to reside within the jurisdiction of their Councils' areas. I can also recall when the Akwa Ibom Ethical and Attitudinal Re-orientation Commission took that war to the Chairmen and the Councilors. This genuine order came as a result of the insalubrious, unwholesome, unethical and the unattitudinal idiosyncrasies of the then serving Chairmen and their Councilors, whose stock in trade was living and administering their respective Local Councils outside their geographical boundaries. These Chairmen and Councilors failed woefully to address the various problems of their communities, since they had failed in the first instance, to live and interact with their kith and kin. Today, the story is not different same song, same chorus. It is crystal clear therefore that the original concept of the good intentions of our forbearers in the creation and reformation of Local Councils may be no more necessary. This is so as long as we continue to introduce the hydra-headed enigma called imperfection into our systems.
It is generally known these days that whatever arrangements we moot in the first instance within ourselves are mere disguise or masterminds: corruption, gimmicks, and negative results. But even at that, we will try to do our utmost, knowing same to be unreal, to at the end attempt all within us to present fake scorecard thereby creating a seeming picture of service delivery that will erroneously give us a standing ovation from the governed. I do not need to remind our in-coming Local Council warlords who are just returning from the local council election war of consensus and selectocracy, of the real and constitutional functions of the Chairmen and Councilors in an organized local council system socially, politically, economically, sensibly, attitudinally and ethically.
It would seem too elementary if I did. After all, state-of-the-art manifestoes of the would-be-administrators are larger than the Nigerian constitution. They embody all the precepts of good things in life, all for the seeming benefits and seeming emancipation of their people. The well-crafted manifestoes we know are nothing but mere painted sepulchers targeted at deceitfulness, and so culminating into intentional imperfection, but a ploy to be Local Council's administrator. How then can the localities have basic necessities of life water, food, light, roads, housing, education, health; and the basic dividends that are supposed to accrue from the Local Councils to its people agriculture, sports, youth and women empowerment, small, medium or cottage industries, etc? The clamour for the administration of Local Councils in the State and even across the nation, is better imagined and explained by the concerned spectators than the competitors themselves.
In Akwa Ibom, the concluded formulae for nominations of candidates for the various Local Council offices have really left wounds, scars memories, enmities and volumes of insolences behind. The concluded Local Council elections, nay, the race is not imaginable but surely a race to abridge the tape and reach the looting centers. The in-coming Local Councils' administrators should try to shed off a little bit of those pre-fixes of insensitivities and insert in its place, servicereal and great service. We should endeavour to serve in order to reposition our Local Councils with the fullness of our strength and the love for the respective localities. We should strive to leave behind as legacy, footprints on the sands of time, since our footprints must follow us endlessly, even unto and even in the great beyond. We may be called upon to account for our stewardship. Let us remind ourselves that at the creation and inception of Local Councils across the nation, goals and objectives were set. These set goals and objectives which were achievable, were for the total emancipation of the people through the conscious and concerted developments of the localities. Let us not rather allow our local council administration metamorphose itself into the words of our ex-President, “looting centers”.
I would not join the bandwagon calling the shots for the scrapping of Local Councils. God forbid; rather, I join those calling for a total re-engineering of the system re-organization, re-activation of values, as they affect governance and real service delivery. Therefore, our in-coming Local Councils' administrators should attempt to move from the looting centers syndrome to service delivery centers.
The in-coming Local Councils should endeavour to have a clear sense of direction and be very responsive to the plight and yearnings of its rural people. The Local Councils should take a cue from the leadership style of the Governor Godswill Akpabio's administration, by embarking on and completing at the regulated intervals, all people oriented projects. Projects that would impact positively on the lives of the rural folks, projects that would restore confidence in the local people. Leadership that will evolve best practice for public procurement through the rule of law and due process. Leadership that will ensure judicious use of public funds, and that which will show transparency and accountability.
Most importantly, leadership that will unite members of the various localities and that which will support the agenda of the central and national governments. Leadership with a sense of mission.