By Ochereome Nnanna
ON Tuesday, July 10, 2012, I watched with confusion as retired Justice Alfa Belgore submitted his panel’s report on Constitution amendment, suing for what he called “a stronger” local government system. I do not know whether he meant enhancing the existing local government structure or actually creating a different, more functional system.

For long I have maintained that the current system of local government which we operate has never worked; at least not for all Nigerians. It has probably worked most for the North because while their sons were controlling political power through military rule, the system was used to aggrandize that part of the country to the utter disadvantage of Southern areas, particularly Eastern Nigeria. The local governments were used as the second units for allocation of oil money (after the states). The local government system was one of the devices of booty sharing after the civil war, which accounts for the fact that the North had the lion’s share, the West next and the core Igboland (today’s South East Zone) the least.

Secondly, it does not take adequate cognisance of the republican outlook of communities in the Eastern and even Central parts of the country, as opposed to the imperial systems in the North and to some extent, West and Midwest. During the days of the Provinces, independent and autonomous communities, with their own dialects, cultures and local administration styles existed as Local Authorities. It was then possible for these communities to engage in healthy competition in terms of education, health, public amenities and what have you.

But as soon as the local governments were put in place in the 1970s, these independent communities were forcibly squashed together into local governments. Thus was artificially created imperial fiefdoms where the communities that had the good fortune of housing the local government headquarters became the overlords of communities they were never able to subjugate during pre-colonial times. One of the greatest failings of the local government system is that amenities are concentrated in communities that house the local government headquarters. The other surrounding communities, starved of government presence, are left desolate even though the money collected from the Federation Account is for the benefit of all communities within the administrative enclave.

A further failing of the local government system is that due to the existence of the joint account with the states and the power granted the state Houses of Assembly to regulate their activities, the states have hijacked the local council funds and usurped their political power. Most local governments are run by illegal caretaker committees and transitional bodies set up the by the governors. The funds allocated to them from the Federation Account are confiscated by governors and used to pay contractors even when these contracts have nothing to do with the local governments whose moneys have been hijacked.

I said it before and I say it again: It is time to do away with the local government system. Post-war booty sharing is over. The local government system is a parasitic contraption that does not promote competition and development – whether democratic, economic or social.

Besides, the local councils have no business being regarded as a separate tier of government catered for by the Federation Account. The envisaged Constitution amendment must remove the local government as a tier of governance. In other words, the local governments must be scrapped. Let each state or region devise its own means of local administration and create the structures that conduce best to the aspirations of the people in the locality.

I give the example of my own community, Abiriba. Since it was forced into the Ohafia Local Government Area, with headquarters in Ebem Ohafia, there has virtually been nothing like governmental presence. Apart from the self-help projects which the age grades and individuals have for ages provided, little else is happening. Yet in March 2012, the Ohafia Local Government collected over N170 million from the Federation Account.

If the local government is discarded and we revert to the local or county councils, we will have three large communities, each with its county councils: Abiriba, Ohafia and Nkporo. If the money from the Federation Account is split according to the electoral wards, the sharing will come to Abiriba (with three wards: about N48 million per month); Nkporo (with three wards, about N48 million) and Ohafia (with five wards, N64 million). This fund will truly get to the grassroots where they will be better deployed to serve the needs of the people under the special transparency and accountability systems of each locality.

Under the new envisaged amended constitution let each federating unit (state or region/zone) determine whether it wants to continue the existing local government system or replace them with community or county governments. This is the experiment that Governor Rochas Okorocha is pioneering but with the local government system protected by the superior Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 impeding his innovation.

We are looking for a constitution amendment that will improve on what we have, not one that will mire us deeper in a failed experiment. With governance taken to the counties where the people really reside, economic, political and social potentials will be unlocked. The deserted communities will be refilled by their indigenes currently languishing unproductively in the urban areas. Dwindling local cultures and dialects will be revived and grassroots generation of revenue will be boosted. Security will also improve because there will be young people around to guard the local communities due to governmental opportunities which the county governments will provide.

Let us move from this lose-lose local government system back to the win-win community councils under which we flourished before the civil war!