By Donu Kogbara
Two weeks ago, I a) praised the accessible, conscientious elected councillors and civil servants who run the well-organised and enlightened British local government area I stay in when I’m in London…and b) complained about the many shortcomings of their Nigerian counterparts. I received a number of lengthy and interesting responses from Vanguard readers and have summarised two of the best below:- 

From Ajoke Aarinola Afolabi ([email protected])

    Dear Donu, I was in the Local Government (LG) Service for 22 years. I joined the Service as a junior accountant and retired as a Director on Grade Level 16. 

I have often opined that the LG is an orpha n. Unlike the Federal and States Services that have a Head of Service who acts as a rallying point, LGs only have Directors or Heads of Personnel Management  and Heads of Local Government Affairs. And more often than not these people work at cross purposes….and are not effectively coordinated, either administratively or politically.

  The Chairman and councillors are hand-picked by the Governor  as compensation for being good boys or girls; a lot of the time, they are barely literate and almost all of them are more interested in lining their pockets than in offering a good service. Sometimes, they even openly ask how they can “chop”.

  The hammer that nails the coffin of the LG are the Governors, most of whom regard the LG as a means of taking their own pound of flesh. Most Governors see the LG as an extension of or department in the Ministry of Local Government. And most of the few contracts that are done by the LG are awarded via the Ministry.

  Most Chairmen don’t have a say. They will approve sub-standard and ill-conceived projects that are not in consonance with the needs of their communities for as long as they will gain some personal returns at the end of the day.

  The last but not the least conspiracy against effective service delivery by the LG comes from the communities themselves; they accept anything as long as a few community leaders receive small favours. No one really cares about the LG.

  So how can we make LGs more functional?

   1) Communities should be less passive and should not allow LGs to be hijacked by a few individuals. Communities must take an active interest in securing quality representation . Tested individuals who have done very well in their careers must be encouraged to serve and the Council should be accountable to the Community.  

  2) Governors must hands off and allow communities to choose their local representatives. The Ministry of Local Government – or whichever arm of the State Government is supervising the LG – should only be involved in policy formulation and should stop meddling in LGs’ finances. In other words, the Local Government must be allowed to operate autonomously.

  3) State House of Assembly members who are responsible for legislating and overseeing the activities of the Councils should wake up to their duties and serve the communities they represent, not Governors.

  4) Governors should not use LGs as dumping grounds for political thugs. Some of these miscreants, who have nothing to offer, find their way into top administrative positions and compound leadership problems by distorting policy vision/direction.

  Meanwhile, many so-called “ghost workers” are real people who hold down other jobs while collecting salaries from the LG, for which they do absolutely nothing. I have heard of a worker who travelled abroad, stayed there for many years and continued to be on the Council’s payroll throughout this long absence.

  LG recruitment should be based on well-defined manpower needs and on vacancies arising from retirements, etc, as is the case in other tiers of Government.

 From: A Reader who did not want to be identified

  I read your column titled “Lousy Naija LGAs” with much sadness and disbelief because you have so little  understanding of the real problems LGAs face.

  I must point out that the premise of your argument is worrisome and  wrong and that your conclusions are narrowed by your prejudiced belief that the LGAS are  overseen by “idiotic and corrupt cronies” of Governors.

  This belief prevented you from taking a holistic view of LGA administration in Nigeria. If you had done so, you would have seen that it is the System and the States that stifle LGAs and make their officials look inept and impotent.

  LGAs are the  most abused and misunderstood tier of government because the public has been fed half-truths and deceived. Let me highlight three factors which, hamper the relevance of the LGAs and prevent (as you put it) “the average Nigerian  LGA  official” from being “able to look his or her constituents in the eye to confidently justify the funds  that have been collected in their name”.

  The Joint Account System – whereby the monthly allocations of all the LGAs in a State from the Federation  Account are first pooled into a single account managed by the State Government. A very small percentage of these sums are then  disbursed to LGAs according to the whims of the Governor.  

  The Unified Local Government System whereby the LGAs in a State are, for administrative convenience, regarded as a single unit and workers are often transferred to LGAs they don’t come from. This erodes their sense of belonging and commitment. Most non-indigenous workers see themselves as hired hands and adopt a mercenary attitude.  

  Ministries for Local Government Matters are unnecessary and have no real functions and exist only to confuse and overload the LG system.

  But the greatest impediment to the running of efficient and people-oriented LGAs are Governors. The relationship  between most Governors and LG officials is that of vassalage and political servitude. In the South-East, for example, Governors are like lords of the manor, subjugate the LGAs to the point of incapacitation and only give them enough money to cover overheads.  

Yes, there are bad LGA officials, but a blanket condemnation is not fair. People who accuse LG officials of corruption and incompetence don’t realise that they are sometimes laying the blame at the wrong door steps.  

A strong LG system is the ideal foundation for the  type of society we all yearn for. And we all share in the blame for the rot. Our collective silence, ignorance and  nonchalance over the years has emboldened the main culprits (Governors) to continue to exploit LGAs, knowing that  hardly anyone will query them.

The media, as the fourth estate of the realm and a supposed watch-dog, is perhaps largely to blame for the impunity that Governors enjoy. The day journalists wake up and decide to do an expose on  the management of LGAs in Nigeria, I suggest that they start with Anambra. The revelations will  knock us over but reawaken us.