Politics News: Fresh moves to strengthen LG administration

the Nigerian constitution establishes the local government as the third tier of government in the country. The intent of the constitution,is that it is supposed to be run independent of the states, just as the states operate independent of the Federal government. But the reality is that local government councils are run as appendages of the state government.
Although  section 7(1)1999 constitution as amended states expressly that local government administration shall be by elected officials, that law is observed in the breach. The norm at the moment is for state governors to appoint their minions and lackeys into the local councils as caretaker committee members. Consequently, denying the people a say in the choice of who governs them.  Local government councils in Nigeria are state governor’s honey pie to say the least.
President Muhammadu Buhari captures the plight of the local government councils aptly when he said recently that “the relationship between the three tiers of government is not a very nice one, especially that between the local governments and the state.The states feel like they own the local government, if they are of the same party. It is worse if they are not.”
President Buhari, who spoke when he received a delegation from the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) added that “this is a very serious constitutional problem and unless there is absolute clarity and transparency, the relationship will continue to be exploited against the interest of the ordinary people of the country”.
But the situation at the local government councils  may change soon, if current moves in the House of Representatives are anything to go by.  Presently there are two bills seeking to free the councils from the stranglehold of the governors. One of the bills is to amend the fiscal responsibility act,  to make it compulsory for state governors to have elected council officials in place before they access fund from the capital market while the other bill seeks outrightly to abolish State-Local Government Joint Account by amending section  162  of the 1999 constitution and grant financial autonomy to the local government councils . Both bills have passed second reading and sent to the relevant House committees for further legislative work.
While the bill on the amendment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act was sent to the House Committee on Business, the bill seeking to grant financial autonomy to the councils was referred to Special Ad-Hoc Committee for the Review of the 1999 constitution
If the bill which seeks to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007, is eventually passed,  states that runs their local government councils with non-elected officials can no longer access funds from the capital market.
The bill  which is sponsored by Hon Edward Gyang Pwajok( PDP,  Plateau) has as its long title: “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to make it Mandatory for States to have Democratically elected Local Government Councils before such States can access Fund from the Capital Market,  and for other related matters.”
The bill, which is proposing an amendment to sections 41 and 56  of the principal act seeks to make it mandatory for any state that want to borrow money from the capital market to also get the consent of the elected local government councils in their state, as well as the consent of the state legislate.
This no doubt will have far reaching implications for the local government administration, as governors would have no choice to hold periodic council polls.
The proposed amendment is  to add a new subsection “c” to section 41(1) and a new subsection 3 to section 41 of the principal act.
The proposed subsection “c” reads: “ The Federal Government shall only guarantee or permit any borrowing by state or Local Government where such is sought, if all the Local Governments in such States are democratically constituted and there must be a supporting resolution of the House of Assembly together with the State Executive Council and all the elected Legislative Councils of the State.”
While the proposed subsection 41(3)read thus: “ The States and Local Governments shall only be allowed to borrow from the capital market subject to the approval of the National Assembly which must be satisfied that the State has complied with Section 7 of the constitution and there are resolutions of the State House of Assembly, State Executive Councils and elected Local Government Chairmen in support”.
Pwajok while leading debate on the bill on the floor of the house said it was necessary to close the existing lacuna in the principal law, especially as borrowing is on the exclusive legislative list.
Speaking during the debate, minority leader,  Hon Leo Ogor who lauded the bill, said the use of caretaker committees by some some states to administer the local government council was an aberration.
Ogor said even though the constitution provides for local government admistrations to be administered by only elected officials,  it need prescribe punishment in the event of a violation.
He expressed optmisim that the bill if passed into  law would go a long way to making state governors respect the provisions of that constitution regarding the running of the local government administration.
Similarly, the bill to grant financial autonomy to local government councils in the country, which is sponsored  by Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha (PDP,  Abia) has as its long title “A Bill for an Act to Alter Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to among Other things ensure Financial Autonomy of Local Government Councils and for Other Related Matters”.
Section 162 provides for the State- Local Government Account, into which all revenues accruing to the local governments from the federal and state governments are paid.
According to the proposed amendment, each local government council in the country shall be expected to maintain a special account to be called “Local Government Council Allocation  Account”, where all funds accruing to them from the Federation Account and from their respective state governments shall be paid into.
The financial autonomy bill also stipulates that  disbursement shall not be made from the account except  by a bye-law passed by the Local Government Legislative Council.
Onyejeocha believes that if bill is passed  into law, will strengthen the operation of the local government councils and stimulate development at the third tier of government. According to her,  state governments across the country have capitalised  on the joint account to exploit local government councils and starve them of fund.
Onyejeocha,  while canvasing support for the bill in the lead debate, said if it is passed into  law, the local government councils will be empowered to perform their duties to their people.
“ With this joint account in place, many state governments starve local governments of funds, especially funds accruing from the federation account,” she said, noting that unless state-local government joint account is abolished, the objective of strengthening local government as a tier of government will be unattainable,”she said.
Analysts argue that as impressive as the two bills are,  it is only a little step in what’s needed to strengthen the government at the third tier. Not a few believe  that apart, from the State -Local governments joint account, the greatest challenge confronting local government administration in the country are the States Independent Electoral Commissions(SIECs), which are saddled with the onerous responsiblilty of conducting election into the council areas.
That had undoubtedly killed democracy in that tier of government, as council elections conducted by the respective SIECs in many instances never pass credibility test.  In fact, council elections across the state have become mere exercise to coronate the candidates of the ruling party in the respective states.
Many believe since the advent of the present democratic dispensation, the only council election that could fairly pass as free and fair was the one conducted in December 1998. The council election after that has been mere selection exercise. It us instructive to note that try as much as they could, opposition political parties in the states hardly win  council poll.  Even when it is glaring when its glaring that the election has been by opposition parties, candidates of the ruling party in the individual states are always declared winner to the chagrin of the election.
Besides, the constitutional provision that empowers the state Houses of Assembly to oversight the local government council has also turned an albatross on the council. All a council boss needs to do to be kicked out of office is to perceived whether rightly or wrongly to be the state governor’s black book.
Consequently, analysts argue that the House of Representatives in its bid to free local government councils from the suffocating grips of the governors must go the full hog  and amend  all sections that constitution that hamper the operation of the councils.
One of such sections is the section of the constitution establishing SIECs and transfer the conduct of local government elections to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).  That way there would be more guarantee that there will be done semblance of free and fair election in the third tier of government.
All sections of the constitution that tend to place the councils under the control of the state House of Assembly should also be amended or outrightly repealed. Just as the National Assembly cannot legislate for the states, except in crisis  situation,  or remove or suspend a governor, a governor or state House of Assembly should not also sack or suspend a council boss or legislate for councils.
The legislative councils should be strengthened to oversight the local government council. Apart from making the councils more functional, it will also make democracy to thrive at the grassroots. Anything short of this will not suffice.
The House of Representatives seem prepared to finally liberate the council areas. Apart from the two bills, the House has equally listed local government autonomy as one of the issues to be looked into in the proposed review of the constitution.  But the House may have the governors to contend with, as whatever amendment they make to the constitution would require the support of two/third of the state Houses of Assembly.
The governors through the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had kicked against a similar move by the 7th session of the National Assembly to grant autonomy to the local government councils, during the last constitutional amendment excersise. It would also not be surprising if the current set of governors also object to the idea of granting autonomy to councils.
But that is where President Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress, which controls majority of the states come in. The Presisent and the APC leadership should be able to mobilise the states to key into the idea,  especially as  Buhari, himself has identified the pitfalls in the current arrangement and pledged that his administration would support  an autonomy for local councils and the APC on its part has said in the past that it is not averse to autonomy for local government councils.