Opinion
Should Local Government Councils Be Autonomous?
As citizens worry over the dearth of democracy dividends at the local government councils, the councils claim that lack of autonomy was an impediment to their meeting the expectations of Nigerians at the grassroots.
Our correspondent, Calista Ezeaku and photographer, Dele Obinna sought the views of Nigerians on the thorny issue of granting autonomy to LGAs or not.
Excerpts:
Well, the issue of the Local Government autonomy should not be a matter that people will begin to argue about. This is a thing that is established by law. It is just like somebody using his position to take over something that rightly belongs to the other person.
So the issue of autonomy is not negotiable. And I think that what the States are doing is an infringement, to usurp about 50 per cent of the local government functions and they have made the councils to under perform in their responsibilities as local governments. So I think autonomy should be granted without delay to enable local governments function. The law recognises three tiers of government – Federal, State, and Local Government.
The same authority that established States also established the local governments. Therefore, usurping the functions of the local government at the State level is an abuse of power. And I think the state governments of the nation should be wise enough to know that they have been holding the thing that rightly belongs to their children and it is high time they released it to ensure that development gets to the grass roots.
Delay in the payment of teachers salary was one reasons given that made the State governments to start controlling the local government’s finance, but one thing is that the issue of payment of salaries has not even changed even now that the States have refused to allow local governments run their councils the way it should be.
The workers salaries have not been effective. If you go to records I can assure you that for the past eight months, salaries are paid two weeks after the end of the other month.
There had been no month that State or local governments pay salaries at exactly the end of the month. It is always a carry over which is a replica of what they said was not good.
So, there should be proper separation of power to ensure proper sanity in the system because the state claim to be more decent in terms of administration than the local government. Everything depends on the mindset. Even in the past when allocations were being tampered with, it was not applicable to all the councils. There were still some local governments that had good leaders that were meeting up with the target to ensure that salaries and other duties that were supposed to be within the coffers of the local government were done.
Henry Chikwele Wechie – Business Consultant.
I think local governments should be granted autonomy so that development can get to the grass roots because without financial autonomy it will be very difficult to get development to the grassroots where people will benefit. We have three tiers of government – federal, state and local government. So local government should stand as a pillar of its own. It is just like we have separation of powers in the judiciary, executive and legislature. They all have their own functions. So, local government should have its own direct function that will take care of the grassroots. Proper separation of powers will ensure that all the tiers of government will do what they are supposed to do and that will facilitate development.
Hon Chochi Amadi – Common Nigerian
I want to say that the autonomy of local government is a good idea. If local governments should be granted autonomy it will be a welcome idea. But there are some portions of the 1999 constitution that need to be touched to be in line with the autonomy of the local government. By that I mean the local government should be put in check. I think it is from this angle that people are saying no to the autonomy of the local government. But if they put everything together in line of checking, balancing and all that, the autonomy of local government is going to be a welcome one.
While a portion of the 1999 constitution will be amended, it will ensure proper checks and balances in all tiers of government. That will make all of them to perform instead of one tier blaming the other for its low performance. If there is a law backing the functions of the local governments and all that they can do, I think it will be better for all.
So there should be an amendment on how the local government should be run. There should be a touching of how it will be balancing so that the people in the legislature, executive will know what the law is saying on that. That will also direct the state and the federal government.
Mrs Felicia Osasuwa – Health Worker
The local governments should be granted autonomy because it seems as if they are tied in one corner. But if the chairmen are allowed to manage the local governments by themselves, I think they will do better. When you give birth to a child, you allow the child to grow and be on his own. It’s not good that the child stays under his parents forever. When you allow a child to be on his own, that child will do better.
There is this fear that if local governments are granted autonomy, the chairman might misuse the funds of the council. But there are some God-fearing local government chairmen. If you are a God fearing person and public funds are given to you, you will use it well. You will not embezzle it.
Hon. Bernard Uche Enyiche – Business Man / Former Supervisor
I worked with the local government council in 1998 as a supervisor for health. We were autonomous then. At the end of the month, the chairman would go for JAC meeting. Their money came direct to the local government. So it was easy to dispense. Projects were easily arranged, organised and effected.
But this money coming from the Federal Government to the State, it does not make things straight and a lot of things go wrong because we are Nigerians. So the best thing to do is to make the local government autonomous.
I think when it comes to development, it was better when the local governments were autonomous than now because now you are not sure of what comes to local governments. If the money will come direct from federal government, chairmen will know how much they get and what projects to embark on with the money. But this time, the money comes from States, and perhaps they do some deductions I don’t know, because of the payments that are involved. And by the time the money gets to the local governments, you can never be sure of how much until they see their accounts.
So if the local government are autonomous, I think it will be the best for the country.
Mrs Lizzy Samuel – Teacher
I think the issue of local government autonomy would have been ideal if we have honest, sincere and selfless people as chairmen. But unfortunately, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. Our leaders are selfish and self centered. Before now, local governments were autonomous, but instead of paying workers, particularly primary school teachers their salaries, they withheld the salaries, owing teachers for up to seven months. That was how the payment of primary school teachers became the responsibility of the State government, who collects the local government allocations from the Federal Government and deduct our salaries before giving the local government the balance. Since then, we’ve not had the issue of prolonged delay of payment of teachers’ salary. When the local governments chairmen were in charge of teachers salaries, many local government councils were almost dead. The chairmen claimed they had zero allocation after paying workers salaries. But since the State government took up the responsibility of payment of teachers salaries, nobody has heard anything like zero allocation again.
So for the sake of teachers, let the statusquo remain. Let State Governors carry on with the control of local government finances. The local government chairmen claim the money given to them by State Governors after the deductions is not enough for them to execute projects. But the question is, the so called little amount they receive, what do they do with it? Some of them generate huge revenue internally, what do they do with it? Nothing! Many of them are seen at their offices only when the allocations come. They will share the money among themselves and nobody will see them again.
That is why there is no development in many local government councils.
I’m not saying the governors are saints, but at least they make sure that our salaries are paid, so they should carry on.
The line that separates betrayal and corruption is very thin. Betrayal and corruption are two sides of the same coin. Like the snail and its shell they are almost inseparable. They go hand-in-globe. Betrayal and corruption are instinctive in humans and they are birthed by people with inordinate ambition – people without principles, without regard for ethical standards and values. Looking back to the days of Jesus Christ, one of his high profile disciples-the treasurer, was a betrayer. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ for just 30 pieces of silver. One of the characteristics of betrayers is greed.
So, when on resumption from his imposed suspension, the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminilayi Fubara threatened to bring permanent secretaries who were found complicit in “defrauding” the State during the days of Locust and Caterpillar regime, he did not only decry a loot of the Treasury but the emotional trauma of betrayal perpetrated by those who swore to uphold the ethics of the civil service. Governor Siminilayi Fubara had least expected that those who feigned loyalty to his administration would soon become co-travellers with an alien administration whose activities were repugnant to the “Rivers First” mantra of his administration. The saying that if you want to prove the genuineness of a person’s love and loyalty feign death, finds consummate expression in the Governor Fubara and some of the key members of the State engine room
Some of those who professed love for Governor Siminilayi Fubara and Rivers State could not resist the lure and enticement of office in the dark days of Rivers State, like Judas Iscariot. Rather, they chose to identify with the locusts and the caterpillars for their selfish interest. Julius Caesar did not die from the stab of Brutus but by his emotional attachment to him, hence he exclaimed in utter disappointment, “Even you Brutus”. The wound of betrayal never heals and the scar is indelible. Unfortunately, today, because of gross moral turpitude and declension in ethical standards and values, betrayal and corruption are celebrated and rewarded. Corruption, a bane of civil/public service is sublime in betrayal. The quest to get more at the expense of the people is the root of betrayal and sabotage.
This explains why Nigeria at 65 is the World’s capital of poverty.
Nigeria is not a poor country, yet, millions are living in hunger, abject poverty and avoidable misery. What an irony. Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest economies and most populous nation is naturally endowed with 44 mineral resources, found in 500 geographical locations in commercial quantity across the country. According to Nigeria’s former Minister for Mines and Steel Development, Olamiekan Adegbite, the mineral resources include: baryte, kaolin, gymsium, feldspar, limestone, coal, bitumen, lignite, uranium, gold, cassiterite, columbite, iron ore, lead, zinc, copper, granite, laterite, sapphire, tourmaline, emerald, topaz, amethyst, gamer, etc. Nigeria has a vast uncultivated arable land even as its geographical area is approximately 923, 769 sq km (356,669 sq ml).
“This clearly demonstrates the wide mineral spectrum we are endowed with, which offers limitless opportunities along the value-chain, for job creation, revenue growth. Nigeria provides one of the highest rates of return because its minerals are closer to the suffer”, Adegbite said. Therefore, poverty in Nigeria is not the consequences of lack of resources and manpower but inequality, misappropriation, outright embezzlement, barefaced corruption that is systemic and normative in leaders and public institutions. According to the World Poverty Clock 2023, Nigeria has the awful distinction of being the world capital of poverty with about 84 million people living in extreme poverty today.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data also revealed that a total of 133 million people in Nigeria are classed as multi-dimensionally poor. Unemployment is a major challenge in the country. About 33 percent of the labour force are unable to find a job at the prevailing wage rate. About 63 percent of the population are poor because of lack of access to health, education, employment, and security. Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) speculated that unemployment rate will increase to 37 percent in 2023. The implications, therefore, is increase in unemployment will translate to increase in the poverty rate. The World Bank, a Washington-based and a multi-lateral development institution, in its macro-poverty outlook for Nigeria for April 2023 projected that 13 million Nigerians will fall below the National Poverty line by 2025.
It further stated that the removal of subsidy on petroleum products without palliatives will result to 101 million people being poor in Nigeria. Statistics also show that “in 2023 nearly 12 percent of the world population of extreme poverty lived in Nigeria, considering poverty threshold at 1.90 US dollars a day”.Taking a cursory look at the Nigerian Development Update (NDU), the World Bank said “four million Nigerians were pushed into poverty between January and June 2023 and 7.1 million more will join if the removal of subsidy is not adequately managed.” These startling revelations paint a grim and bleak future for the social-economic life of the people.The alarming poverty in the country is a conspiracy of several factors, including corruption. In January, 2023 the global anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International, in its annual corruption prospect index which ranks the perceived level of public sector corruption across 180 countries in the world says Nigeria ranked 150 among 180 in the index. Conversely, Nigeria is the 30th most corrupt nation in the ranking. It is also the capital of unemployment in the world.
Truth be told: a Government that is corruption-ridden lacks the capacity to build a vibrant economy that will provide employment for the teeming unemployed population. So crime and criminality become inevitable. No wonder, the incessant cases of violent crimes and delinquency among young people. Corruption seems to be the second nature of Nigeria as a nation . At the root of Nigerians’ poverty is the corruption cankerworm.How the nation got to this sordid economic and social precipice is the accumulation of years of corrupt practices with impunity by successive administrations. But the hardship Nigerians are experiencing gathered momentum between 2015 and 2023 and reached the climax few days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who assumed power as president of Nigeria, removed the controversial petroleum subsidy. Since then, there is astronomical increase in transport fares, and prices of commodities. Living standard of most Nigerians is abysmally low, essential commodities are out of reach of the poor masses who barely eat once a day.
The Dollar to Naira exchange rate ratio at one dollar to N1,000, is the most economy-unfriendly in the annals of the history of Nigeria. The prohibitive prices of petroleum products with the attendant multi-dimensional challenges following the removal of the subsidy, has posed a nightmare better to be imagined than experienced. Inflation, has been on the increase, negatively affecting the purchasing power of low income Nigerians. Contributing to the poverty scourge is the low private investment due to.unfriendly business environment and lack of power supply, as well as low social development outcomes resulting in low productivity. The developed economies of the world are private sector-driven. So the inadequate involvement of the private sector in Nigeria’s economy, is a leading cause of unemployment which inevitably translates to poverty.
Igbiki Benibo
In today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive world, the pursuit of success and growth has become an all-consuming force. Individuals, organisations, and nations alike, are locked in a perpetual struggle to achieve more, earn more, and surpass their rivals. Yet, beneath this relentless drive for progress lies a silent danger—the risk of self-destruction. This perilous pattern, which I call the self-destruct trajectory, describes the path taken when ambition and growth are pursued without restraint, awareness, or moral balance. The self-destruct trajectory is fueled by an insatiable hunger for more—a mindset that glorifies endless expansion while disregarding the boundaries of ethics, sustainability, and human well-being. At first glance, it may appear to promise prosperity and achievement. After all, ambition has long been celebrated as a virtue. But when growth becomes the only goal, it mutates into obsession.
Individuals burn out, organisations lose their soul, and societies begin to fracture under the weight of their own excesses. The consequences are everywhere. People pushed beyond their limits face anxiety, exhaustion, and disconnection. Companies sacrifice employee welfare and social responsibility on the altar of profit. The entire ecosystems suffer as forests are cleared, oceans polluted, and air poisoned in the name of economic progress. The collapse of financial systems, widening income inequality, and global environmental crises are all symptoms of this same relentless, self-consuming pursuit. To understand this dynamic, one can turn to literature—and to Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. In one of the novel’s most haunting scenes, young Oliver, starving in the workhouse, dares to utter the words: “Please, sir, I want some more.” This simple plea encapsulates the essence of human desire—the urge for more. But it also mirrors the perilous craving that drives the self-destruct trajectory. Like Oliver, society keeps asking for “more”—more wealth, more power, more success—without considering the consequences of endless wanting.
The workhouse itself symbolises the system of constraints and boundaries that ambition often seeks to defy. Oliver’s courage to ask for more represents the daring spirit of human aspiration—but it also exposes the risk of defying limits without reflection. Mr. Bumble, the cruel overseer, obsessed with authority and control, embodies the darker forces that sustain this destructive cycle: greed, pride, and the illusion of dominance. Through this lens, Dickens’ tale becomes a timeless metaphor for the modern condition—a warning about what happens when ambition blinds compassion and growth eclipses humanity. Avoiding the self-destruct trajectory requires a radical rethinking about success. True progress should not be measured solely by accumulation, but by balance—by how growth serves people, planet, and purpose.
This calls for a more holistic approach to achievement, one that values sustainability, empathy, and integrity alongside innovation and expansion
Individuals must learn to pace their pursuit of goals, embracing rest, reflection, and meaningful relationships as part of a full life. The discipline of “enough”—knowing when to stop striving and start appreciating—can restore both mental well-being and moral clarity. Organisations, on their part, must reimagine what it means to succeed: prioritising employee welfare, practising environmental stewardship, and embedding social responsibility in the core of their mission. Governments and policymakers also play a vital role. They can champion sustainable development through laws and incentives that reward ethical practices and environmental responsibility. By investing in education, renewable energy, and equitable economic systems, they help ensure that ambition is channeled toward collective benefit rather than collective ruin.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provides a tangible pathway for this transformation. When businesses take ownership of their social and environmental impact—reducing carbon footprints, supporting local communities, and promoting fair labour—they not only strengthen society but also secure their own long-term stability. Sustainable profit is, after all, the only kind that endures. Ultimately, avoiding the self-destruct trajectory is not about rejecting ambition—it is about redefining it. Ambition must evolve from a self-centred hunger for more into a shared pursuit of the better. We must shift from growth at all costs to growth with conscience. The future will belong not to those who expand endlessly, but to those who expand wisely. By embracing restraint, compassion, and sustainability, we can break free from the cycle of self-destruction and create a new narrative—one where success uplifts rather than consumes, and where progress builds rather than burns.
In the end, the question is not whether we can grow, but whether we can grow without losing ourselves. The choice is ours: to continue along the self-destruct trajectory, or to chart a more balanced, humane, and enduring path toward greatness.
Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi
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