Granting Autonomy for Local Government Administration in Nigeria.

WRITER: OLAYINKA ALAYA Contrary to the position of the Nigeria Governors Forum and some political Office appointees that the Local Government Councils in the Country should not be granted financial autonomy and the Status of a third-tier of government, many Nigerians have been clamouring for the Separation and abolishment of the joint Accounts operating by many of the State Governments. Majority of the Political office holders and Governors against the backdrop of the ongoing debate over the call for the autonomy of Local Government Councils in Nigeria are of the opinion that if they were autonomous, a lot of atrocities would be committed because of the insatiable lust for money by the Council Chairmen. Those that were calling for the autonomy of the Local Government Councils however viewed this from another angle. According to them, the joint Accounts had been turned to an avenue by most of the State Governors to squander the funds that should be channeled towards the development of the grassroot. They opined that unless the States and Local Governments Joint Account is abolished, the much needed development at the grassroots would be defeated. The 1999 constitution which allowed the States and Local Governments to operate a joint account for prudent Management of Public Funds and for meaningful development to take place took into cognizance some factors that could exist if the Local Governments were given autonomy, especially to check the excesses of the Chairmen and put them under control and supervision of the State Governments. It is however unfortunate that the privilege given by the 1999 constitution for the State Governments to operate a joint account with the Local Governments is being misused as the State Governors were using the opportunity to make fat accounts and enrich their personal accounts in foreign Countries. According to the Chairman of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Mr. Elias Mbam, while speaking with Newsmen in Minna, insisted that the Local Government Councils as beneficiaries of the Federation Account should be allowed to get their allocation directly from the account. Mr. Elias, admitted that though this would require constitution amendment as it was provided for in the constitution. Nigeria is a true federal State and federalism allows separation of powers and division in government where the federal government takes charge of the activities at the Central, State at the State level, while the Local Governments oversee the activities at the grassroots. So, there is need to empower the Local Governments and allow them to stand on their own for development to take place. It has again been observed that the cost of governance in the Country which is the highest in the continent should be checked. A situation whereby political office holders are appointing and having aides that were too many and large enough to form a Ministry is condemnable and unfortunate, as majority of them were just there warming the benches. Political office holders, therefore, must reduce the number of their aides, so as to reduce wastages and for government to have more resources to address infrastructural decay and cater for the wellbeing of the masses with the provision of social and basic amenities.