By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
An Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Ilorin, Dr ‘Gbade Ojo has declared that local governments in Nigeria presently need autonomy for effective grassroots development.
Dr Ojo stated this in Ibadan while delivering a key-note address at the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the theme: “Value Innovation: Instilling Local Initiatives Through Strategic Leadership,” held at the Ibadan Business School, Bodija, Ibadan organized by the Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria, Oyo State chapter.
According to the Don, the time has come for the local government administration to be devoid of states governments’ manipulating powers for them to serve the real purpose they were created for.
Dr. Ojo emphasized that it was a well known fact that in federations, “local authorities are the closest to the grassroots without which government would be too remote to the people”.
“As recommended by the Presidential Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, the position of all the local government councils in the federation is that local governments should emerge as the creation of the constitution in order to give them full-fledged autonomy” he said.
The Don maintained that “the provision in section 7(1) of the constitution which guarantees a system of democratically elected councils is seen as achieving that objective” but that “same subsection (1) goes further to empower the state House of Assembly to make laws to ensure their existence by providing for their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils”.
“This is seen as detracting from the desired constitutionally guaranteed autonomy. By the existing provision, it is argued that local governments have been reduced to mere administrative appendages of states governments with unpleasant consequences as current experience has shown even if they are funded from the federation account. That is the dilemma of local government reforms in Nigeria.”
He however identified lack of good governance as part of the major problems facing local governments in Nigeria, saying, “in a nutshell, the attributes of good governance includes accountability based on the notion of popular sovereignty and public choice; a legal framework that guarantees the rule of law and due process, popular participation in decision-making processes based on freedom of association and expression, and bureaucratic accountability based on impersonality of office, uniform application of rules and rationality of organizational structure.”
An Associate Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Ilorin, Dr ‘Gbade Ojo has declared that local governments in Nigeria presently need autonomy for effective grassroots development.
Dr Ojo stated this in Ibadan while delivering a key-note address at the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) with the theme: “Value Innovation: Instilling Local Initiatives Through Strategic Leadership,” held at the Ibadan Business School, Bodija, Ibadan organized by the Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria, Oyo State chapter.
According to the Don, the time has come for the local government administration to be devoid of states governments’ manipulating powers for them to serve the real purpose they were created for.
Dr. Ojo emphasized that it was a well known fact that in federations, “local authorities are the closest to the grassroots without which government would be too remote to the people”.
“As recommended by the Presidential Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, the position of all the local government councils in the federation is that local governments should emerge as the creation of the constitution in order to give them full-fledged autonomy” he said.
The Don maintained that “the provision in section 7(1) of the constitution which guarantees a system of democratically elected councils is seen as achieving that objective” but that “same subsection (1) goes further to empower the state House of Assembly to make laws to ensure their existence by providing for their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils”.
“This is seen as detracting from the desired constitutionally guaranteed autonomy. By the existing provision, it is argued that local governments have been reduced to mere administrative appendages of states governments with unpleasant consequences as current experience has shown even if they are funded from the federation account. That is the dilemma of local government reforms in Nigeria.”
He however identified lack of good governance as part of the major problems facing local governments in Nigeria, saying, “in a nutshell, the attributes of good governance includes accountability based on the notion of popular sovereignty and public choice; a legal framework that guarantees the rule of law and due process, popular participation in decision-making processes based on freedom of association and expression, and bureaucratic accountability based on impersonality of office, uniform application of rules and rationality of organizational structure.”
