Of the three tiers of government operational in Nigeria, the local government administration is the one established to cater for the most basic needs and obligations owed to the people by the overall administration of the country.
Take away the local government set up and there are several millions of Nigerians who would never know nor feel the impact of government. Indeed, several millions would never realise the full extent of citizenship and the duties and benefits therein but for the existence of the local government system.
For a vast number of Nigerians, the highest and, sometimes, the only government official or operative within their vicinity is the councillor while their only hope of receiving any form of government assistance or support lies with the local government administration.
The importance of this level of government, therefore, cannot be over-emphasised while its seeming relegation in the scheme of things in the country will continue to be the subject of spirited discourse by discerning and well-meaning citizens.
Perhaps, it is in the light of this that the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), the umbrella body of the leadership of the 774 local government councils in Nigeria, is pressing for a more effective, better organised, more result-oriented and independent system that can deliver on its mandate without let or hindrance.
Speaking to newsmen at the sidelines of the association’s National Executive Council meeting in Kano earlier this month, a former Deputy National President, Mr Constantine Ikiako bared the mind of the group on a number of issues, one of which was a four-year tenure for chairmen of the local councils in the country.
Mr Ikiako who is also the Delta State ALGON Chairman decried the prevailing disorganised system where there is no uniform tenure of office for the councils’ heads across the country and made a strong case for a better state of affairs that will foster stability and greater leverage for service delivery.
“We think that the national and state assemblies need to ensure that there is harmonious tenure for local governments. For instance, some spend six months, some two years, while some three years.
“So, we have to make it, at least, three to four years. These are the issues we’re discussing and ensure we synchonise them”, he said.
According to Mr Ikiako, the council chairmen were no longer satisfied with being instruments of political patronage instead of being true agents of development that should be allowed to interface even with international development partners and thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his interventions so far.
“We want our offices to be turned into areas where ideas are discussed properly. All we hear are the contracts that were awarded before we came in, and the president has said it must stop.
“Unfortunately, it was witnessed with a stiff resistance, but we vowed it must stop so that we can focus on re-engineering in partnership with development agencies to grow the local governments. Our prayer is that subsequent governments will realise that local government need to survive for Nigeria to be better”, he emphasised.
While many Nigerians agree that the local government system needs more freedom from the seemingly overbearing influence of the state governments in order to perform optimally, critical observers of the system also point out that functionaries of the system have not done enough to justify the opportunities given them so far.
Exchanging views with The Tide in Port Harcourt, a public affairs analyst and community leader, Chief Loveday Okere, said that ALGON was not being fair to the people in asking for a four-year tenure in office as they had generally not done enough to stay for more than two years in office.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s no merit in what they’re asking for . That will be asking for too much from the people they’ redisappointed for a long time”, he argued, adding that “This is because for a local government chairman who is not performing to stay in office for three years amounts to suffering the people at the grassroots. If you ask me, I will say that it should be reduced to two years so that the people’s suffering will reduce”.
According to Chief Okere, a two-year tenure with guaranteed periodic election as, and when due, would empower the people to either re-new the mandate of a performing chairman or reject a non-performing one through the ballot box.
“Anybody who wants to perform, one year is even enough for you to perform”, he said, arguing that anyone that is determined to make a desirable difference in the circumstances of the people would be adequately prepared for the task and therefore would not need much time to make desired impact.
He said even though the issue of autonomy for the local government was still one to be resolved, the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to remit allocations directly to the local councils has left the chairmen with the sole responsibility of managing their resources.
“Except they still have any complaints about some form of diversion of funds, they should be able to manage the funds that come to them as people who are there to serve the people”, he said, emphasizing that corruption, selfishness and greed on the part of the elected officials at the third tier of government had been the bane of development at the grassroots.
“The problem I know is that anyone of them that is elected into office, the most important thing in the mind of that person is to selfishly develop himself by carting away resources that are meant for development or diverting them to other sources, that is very selfish”. he said, adding that “Therefore I don’t see much challenge why any of them will say this is why I cannot develop my locality”.
Chief Okere said he would not subscribe to the call for the conduct of local government elections to be given to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) because he believes that power and responsibilities needed to be discentralised.
He said while he appreciated the fact state and federal constituencies’ election had become more competitive over the years, with a little more effort, elections at the local council level could improve as well.
“For now, it is for us to continue to put pressure on the governors who insist on winning every seat at the local government areas to give democracy a chance to thrive at the local level”, he said.
There is no doubt that there is yet so much to be done to get the local government councils in Nigeria to optimally deliver on their mandate. However there is much more to be done by the political leadership at the grassroots to give the people a sense that their interest ranks above anything also, irrespective of how long or short the leaders stay in office.

By: Opaka Dokubo