By: Samuel Oduoye

Reacting to the refusal of state governors to support the independence of local government councils, former President Olusegun Obasanjo that “local government is meant to be autonomous from the state government.

But from what we know, by design, most states have incapacitated the local governments. They have virtually stolen the local governments’ money in what they called “Joint Account”. They are to contribute 10% but they never contribute anything.”

Local government autonomy has been at the forefront of the national discourse for the past few years. The 1999 Constitution subjects the local government to the mandatory support of the state, but states government have continued to use this clause to exploit the last tier of government. They use the opportunity to control them, their finances and their leadership, to ensure they dance to their tunes.

Because of this, the political party that rules at the state always has a complete hold of all local councils. The councils operate at their mercy, as state governors only decide what to contribute to their development budgets. The situation has reduced local government officials to mere office holders, who are financially incapacitated to execute any development projects.

The National Assembly and local government officials have been taken steps to list the latter directly under federal allocation. This would make them independent of the state government, and enable them to achieve their purpose of bringing good governance to the grassroots.

In spite of this deplorable state of local governments, Nigerians wonder why state governors resist vehemently.

The reasons are not far fetched. The state governors use their control over local government to manipulate their leadership, and put their cohorts in power. This makes it easy for them to control the political terrain across the state.

Out of fear of having a local government chairman who is more popular in his community than the governor himself, the latter decides everything that happens at the local level, including the amount they spend.

Also, governors, who are not interested in doing meaningful projects, don’t want local government chairmen to outshine them. So, the best they think they can do is to hinder the flow of money to them.

Other governors are afraid of having the nightmare of another party taking over one or more local government areas. Giving independence to them will mean the electorates can freely choose who rules them, and that implies that the ruling party may lose to an opposition party at the local level. Some governors go to the extent of retaining their choice people as caretaker committees in the local areas.

Irrespective of the fears or reasons being expressed by the state governors, local government autonomy is essential for growth and development at the grassroots. The National Assembly, State legislatures and other relevant government institutions should tame the selfishness of state governors, and allow local government to operate with free rein.

Source: https://qwenu.com/2018/12/20/real-reasons-state-governors-are-afraid-of-local-government-autonomy/

They have virtually stolen the local governments’ money in what they called “Joint Account”. They are to contribute 10% but they never contribute anything.”

Lol if the federal government cut off the state from allocation the governor would be crying blood. This wont stop them giving their 10% IGR to local governments or dipping joint accounts.