Nigeria And Challenges Of Grassroot Democracy

Nigeria adopted the

ideals of Democratic Local Government in the 1950s, when the concept was embraced as a means of development integration across the length and breath of the country.

Many decades after the adoption of this political concept, the country is still battling to have a firmer grasp of the unsettling dynamics of local government administration. The defects in the smooth implementation of the policy is mostly associated with decades of military dictatorship.

According to the late Ogoni activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, in his muse over local government system in Nigeria, “The military grossly abused the concept of local government administration in Nigeria, the system which was supposed to be used to foster grassroots development and popular participation in governance, was damaged by the military through dismantling of political structures and creation of LGAs on personal advantages and not on the fundaments of justice,” Ken Saro Wiwa, the environmental and minority rights activist believed that most local government areas created by the military lacked viability in terms of economic sustenance, while, areas deserving of the structural and economic benefits of the local government system were slighted.

Consequently, the expectant advantages of popular participation, self determination, democratic liberties and integrated grassroots development are therefore lacking in the polity.

When civil rule was enthroned in Nigeria in 1999, after many years of unfettered military rule, there was a general sense of victory over the forces of dictatorship, There was a general believe that issues of constitutional review and ammendment would be given speedy attention to address impending national challenges. One of such prime areas of concern was the issue of local government administration, which is believed to be the closest form of government to the people. The Lagos State Government under the leadership of Senator Bola Tinubu as governor brought a new dimension to the politics of grassroots  democracy in Nigeria when he created new LGAs in the state. This action by Tinubu stirred the honest nest, as there was national debate over whether or not the new LGAs, should participate in the local government elections. Many analysts argued that the New LGAs should be scrapped as there was no constitutional provision for their participation in the elections, as the electoral umpires were bound to conduct the polls based on existing local government structure in the country. More so, it was argued that the “so called new LGAs, ostensibly created for rapid rural transformation had ended up in draining the state coffers since there was no allocation from the Federal Government Forum than”. Drawing from the Lagos precedence,  the Bayelsa State government also created development centres, that operated on allocation from state fund.

The issue of legitimacy of the new local government created by the Lagos State Government was also taken up in a legal tussle that later ended in favour of the Lagos State government. A determined spirit indeed, but the fact remains that, inspite of the Lagos example, the local government  system in Nigeria is yet to attain its full objectives. There are still contentions over the issue of local government autonomy, and this was brought to the fore during the public debate on constitutional review. At the centre of the campaign for local government autonomy is the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

Recently, the South South branch of NULGE led by the National president of the body, embarked on peaceful protests across the South South zone of the country to register discontent of he body against plot to scuttle the collective endorsement of Nigerians on local government autonomy.

The National Executive of NULGE, poured its vituperation against what it called “the forces of oppression” and vowed to mobilize its members across the country to fight the plot against local government autonomy. NULGE listed its demands as, political autonomy, financial autonomy and job security in the local government system.

While the NULGE protest replicate a populist revolt, it is also a considered opinion that beyond the achievement of personal advantages, the local government workers should devote attention to the mobilization of the bulk of the Nigerian masses at the grassroots to effectively monitor the electoral process to ensure that only popular candidates emerge.

Andrew Ajaji, a public affairs analysts, believes that “the absence of proper check over who becomes elected leaders at the local government levels, was responsible for the lack of development at the grassroots”.

According to Ajaji, “only few local government chairmen are using the available fund for development in their respective LGAs, many administrators of public fund at the local government system are imposed on the people, and they indulge in self appropriation of the resources, while remitting to the personal coffers of  their political benefactors”.

Describing the ugly trend as a breach of public trust, Ajaji, posited that a major step to a genuine democratic process at the grassroots, “is for Nigerians to participants actively in the process of election of their political leaders, and also monitor the management of public fund, through consultative governance”.

He noted that, “there are fears that the fight for local government autonomy might as well be another measure of swelling the wealth of those who ascribe to power through tacit endorsement of Godfathers rather than through the ballot boxes”.

However, the level of participation of the masses in Nigeria’s democratic process is abysmally low. Electoral experiences in the country reveal that the road so far has been very rough, as electoral malpractices, turbulence, and poli-thug violence have always charactered the processes.

The just concluded Anambra Governorship elections, has left tongues wagging over the capability or otherwise of the Independence National Electoral Commission, (INEC) to  conduct a free and fair poll, in 2015.

Inspite of the electoral umpires’   claim of independence of extraneous forces, its chief helmsman Prof Attahru Jega, admitted that the Anambra election was marred by irregularities.  Allegations were labeled against INEC for colluding to electoral fraud, an act that has been described within political circles as “culpable incompetence and conspiracy of silence”.

INEC has however reaffirmed its competence towards handing the 2015, polls on the note that every election poses a complaint and offers a remedy of sorts.

Pundits however posit that the future of democracy in Nigeria depend on a well consolidated grassroots positioning, as over 80% of Nigerians live within the rural areas, and INEC can be only taken seriously, if it strategically put in place putative measures to guarantee hitch free polls come 2015.

Ahead of the local government polls coming up next year there was need for early preparations and deep sense of commitment of various state electoral commissions toward transparence elections.

The merger of Major opposition parties into a bigger political body under the appellation of All Progressive congress (APC) has also raised hope in the political process, as according to analysts “it rekindles hope of popular participation by demystifying the behemoth status of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party,” (PDP). Perhaps, aspiring political leaders at various levels of governance can now look elsewhere for hope and the monolithic political composition of legislative Assemblies, and States Houses of Assemblies, including the National Assembly (NASS) would be balanced in the new political equation.  The growing tendencies of political leaders to hold the citizens as captives, will also be put under check as, they would be alert to their responsibilities, knowing that their chances of scaling the next election would be judged on performance and not endorsement. Here it lies the prospect of a strong and verile  society.

Taneh Beemene