As the federal Government and state governors row over misappropriation of local government allocations, most Nigerians assert the root cause of the theft of such fund is long in the public space but that what is lacking is the political will by the authorities to tackle the abuse of office by elected public officials. KUNLE ODEREMI examines the issues.
Local governments are regarded as a fundamental unit of development for any society. It is not just because of their nearness to the people but due to the fact the actual resources and potentials of a country are meant to reside in local communities. A former minister of education and erudite scholar, Professor Tunde Adeniran underscores this perspective of what the ideal structure of a local government should be. He spoke against the backdrop of the recent comment by President Muhammadu Buhari that the local government in the country are being shortchanged by state governors. Despite the spontaneous and spirited defence by governors under the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) against the allegation that leadership ineptitude, laxity and inertia created core socio-economic challenges, rather than the alleged theft of local council funds by governors, the don said the statement credited to the president remains a common knowledge in the country. According to the former Nigerian ambassador to Switzerland, certain conditions predispose the existing local government to gross abuse by states in spite of the constitutional framework on the third level of government. First, he said the system that throws up leadership of the local government administration was fraught with undemocratic tendencies as state chief executives determine who run for elective offices. Governors handpick those that must contest under a wholly guided electoral process superintended by state Independent National Electoral Commission (SIEC). They also influence those who become members of the state House of Assembly, who would in turn, would be at his beck and call on critical state matters that require legislative inputs.
