Granting of financial autonomy is a laudable step and will lead to effective functioning of the three tiers of government – federal, state and local government. There should be ‘house cleaning’ before implementation. The review of the current administrative structure will be discussed, including ways of selecting the chairmen of the 774 local governments. It is believed that the clamour for restructuring of the country will even start while implementing the ruling, but agitation for resource control will start to diminish when implementation of the ruling has been achieved. More importantly, the long-awaited dividends of democracy will be felt by the remotest villages within the local government areas.
The ruling by the Supreme Court on granting full financial autonomy to local governments will have far-reaching benefits in all sectors of our economic development. It will definitely steer Nigeria to a sustainable democratic trajectory. There will be aggressive development of the 774 local governments, where about 80 percent of the country’s population reside under ‘stone age’ living standards. There, you have mass underemployment and unemployed youths making a living through ‘Keke and Motorcycle’ operating ‘factories’ – there are no functional factories within most of the local government areas.
The massive ‘house cleaning’ before implementation of the ruling shall include, but not be limited to:
• Revision of the current revenue allocation formula to provide more funds for the local governments.
• Allocation of responsibilities to the three tiers of government – FG, State, and LG.
• Giving a timeline for the implementation.
• The restructuring of the local government administration will lead to optimum performance and contribution to national development by the local government.
Most of these decisions will require an executive order by the president because going through the National Assembly will lead to delays and possible ‘stepping down’, as most members of the National Assembly are ex-governors and career politicians.
With the envisaged increase in responsibilities, the administrative structure will be changed. The current structure adopted by most local governments (flat type) should be changed to the departmentalisation model. We expect to have large numbers of skilled staff and various professionals to effectively manage the additional responsibilities. The proposed structure allows for the division of management responsibilities and authority along functional lines. More importantly, it is expected that the chairman (the mayor) has to be a focused democratic leader, have auditable integrity and be equipped with managerial skills and knowledge, and be capable of taking tough decisions after due consultations at various levels.
The long-term benefits derivable from granting the financial autonomy shall include, but not be limited to:
• The rural-urban migration shall start to decline because of socio-economic development. Infrastructure, including road improvement, healthcare, education, power supply, agriculture, and other vital sectors for development, will begin to improve. Youths in the villages will not need to Japa to big cities.
• Security, which is inversely proportional to economic development, will improve. Consequently, the savings in security votes will be used to improve living standards for the 774 local government inhabitants.
• We shall witness massive employment of youths because the workloads within the local governments will substantially increase.
Defining a responsibility guide for the 3 tiers of government – federal, state and local government
With the additional funding to the 774 local governments, there will be a need to adhere to the proposed responsibility guide. This will ensure full involvement and adequate participation of the local government team in carrying out the vital sectors of the planned economic development, including:
• Infrastructure (roads, agribusiness, health care, education).
• Power supply – development of solar energy for rural communities.
• Housing for a large number of staff expected to live and work in the local communities.
Solving the liquidity problem
Apart from the IGR by the local government, the LG will benefit from the federal allocation because of the increased level of activities. The federal allocation formula should be revised as shown below:
Federal allocation (current):
FG – 56.68, State – 26.72, LG – 20.6. Proposed: FG – 30.0, State – 40.0, LG – 30.0.
Also, the legislative ratio (concurrent and exclusive lists) should be revised to allow more activities at the LG level.
Legislative Ratio (Current): FG – 68; State – 32; LG – .
Proposed: FG – 30; State – 45; LG – 25.
The benefits for adjusting the above ratios shall include more funds to aid LG development, reduction of the level of insecurity – rural/urban migration, agribusiness, including mechanised farming, development of more SMEs, massive opportunities for employment of skilled staff, and doctors and health officers living within the communities – no more operating from big cities because the communities are being developed. Corruption will reduce – the career politicians cannot manipulate the election process.
Proposed process for selecting the chairman of the local government
To demonstrate the democratic principle – government of the people, by the people and for the people – it is strongly recommended that selection/participation should involve the benefitting communities through town hall meetings. The benefiting communities shall include community leaders, chiefs, church leaders, youth and women’s organisations, academia and other stakeholders. For example, assuming you have a total of 10 communities making up the local government, during the town hall meetings, each of the representatives of the 10 communities will be required to nominate about five persons who will be considered as the chairpersons of the community. The first line of selection will give us fifty contestants. At the local government level, the representatives of the 10 communities will scale down the number to, say, 20. During the final line of selection, which will be done by the state house of assembly, 3 candidates will be sent to the state governor. At this stage, he picks two – one becomes the chairman, while the 2nd person becomes the vice chairman. This will prevent the imposition of candidates by governors and career politicians.
Eligibility for the two candidates
The candidate shall be married and living within the community and in their own accommodation.
He shall be intelligent, preferably a professional (retired or serving), such as a lawyer, school administrator, businessman/woman, engineer, doctor, or architect. Should be patriotic and God-fearing. He/she should have auditable integrity and be courageous, making tough decisions after due consultations at various levels. With this screening process and the involvement of the benefitting communities in the selection, the candidate will deliver, and the beneficiaries will be expected to perform the oversight functions on the chairman and his/her team.
Some of the lead activities before the implementation of the ruling shall include, but not be limited to: Resolving the bottlenecks arising from the details of the ruling and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, defining the method of selecting the chairmen of the 774 local governments. It is recommended by the state electoral commission to step down to avoid undue influence by the career politicians or the ‘bigwigs’. The proposed method, which is based on the democratic principle ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people’, forms part of this submission. We propose that the name ‘Chairman’ should be changed to ‘Mayor’. This will adequately reflect the status of the individual who has high responsibility with a global rating and is exposed to the departmentalisation structure. There will be a need to enact policies and strong institutions to reflect the wishes and aspirations of the benefiting communities.
Conclusion
Abolish the use of a state-independent electoral commission in selecting the LG chairmen – this process is subject to manipulation by political bigwigs. More importantly, democratic principles should be applied in selecting chairmen. Change the status designation from ‘Chairman’ to ‘Mayor’, which has global recognition for the new status. Revision of the administrative structure of local government to the departmentalisation model. Revision of the federal allocation and legislative formula. The National Assembly should clear the bottleneck between the ruling by the Supreme Court (on financial autonomy) and the constitution. The National Assembly should legislate on the proposed responsibility guide. It should also legislate on creating a state rural electrification agency (SREA) to enable aggressive development of power supply within
The unserved area of the LG (by the national grid), as power is the key developmental sector for local government. Local governments, with adequate human capital and adequate funding, should consolidate plans toward value chain mechanised agribusiness. This will ensure optimal performance and effective use of the large population of youths, estimated at 80 percent of the country’s population. Local governments should work towards improving the IGR (Internally Generated Revenue) of LGA by adopting electronically-based data management to eliminate tax evasion and minimise corrupt practices. Another important issue to consider before implementation is the training and recruitment of the envisaged highly skilled manpower, which will be required for the additional responsibilities for the local government. The state government has the responsibility to kick-start the programme.
Engr O. I. Ezenekwe, FNSE, Ph.D, is a public affairs analyst, seasoned entrepreneur and fellow, Nigerian Society of Engineers. +234(0)8165075525: [email protected]
