By Busari Faiza Taiye and Busari Hamidah Kehinde

Local government administration in Nigeria has undergone several reforms, for various reasons, to achieve certain objectives since 1954 when this tier of government received statutory approval by virtue of the Native Law Ordinance of that year.

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For instance, the 1967 reform arose from the need to effect boundary adjustments after the creation of new states by the then military government which set up an Advisory Committee to look into the boundaries of the then Native Authorities (NA) and to advise on the devolution of power to them from the provincial system of administration.

The committee recommended the replacement of the term ‘Native Authority’ with that of ‘Local Government.’ Additionally, it recommended the splitting and regrouping of former Native Authorities.

One major effect of the 1967 reform was that it substantially whittled down the influence and power of traditional rulers who hitherto had operated as highest authorities at that level of administration.

The 1967 reform could not take effect due to the civil war which broke out that year.

Another round of reform was initiated in 1976. The basic idea behind the 1976 reform was the need to democratize administration at the grassroots. This led to the setting up of a technical committee, popularly known as the ‘Dasuki Committee’ to look into how best the proposed reform could be carried out.

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The Report of the Dasuki Committee marked a conscious attempt to visualize the structure and functions of local governments in the country. The committee recommended that the following functions, among others, should be given priority by the local governments:

1. Basic environmental sanitation and other aspects of preventive healthcare;
2. Maternity centres, dispensaries, leprosy clinics and health centres;
3. Roads and drain, excluding Federal and State roads;
4. Construction and maintenance of primary schools; and
5. Maintenance of law and order.

The committee also identified the primary responsibilities of local governments to include the following:

1. Making appropriate services and development activities responsive to local wishes and initiatives by devolving or delegating them tolocal representative bodies;
2. Facilitating the exercise of democratic self-government close to the local level of our society and encouraging initiatives and leader ship potentials; and
3. Mobilizing human and material resources through the involvement of members of the public in their local development.

One of the striking recommendations of the Committee was that the independent existence of the system of Local Government should be guaranteed by the Constitution.

Government accepted these recommendations and anchored the 1976 reform substantially on them. Accordingly, the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the local government councils were embodied in the 1979 Constitution. Thus, for the first time the autonomy granted to the administration of Local Governments in Nigeria was addressed in1976.

The Dasuki Committee had identified one of the primary responsibilities of the local governments as ‘the exercise of democratic self-government close to the local level of our society.’ In accepting there commendations of the panel, the military government approved the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the local government councils as a separate tier of government. This was reflected in section 7 (1) of the 1979 Constitution. The same provision is in section 7 (1)of the 1999 Constitution.

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In some countries that operate a federal system, local government councils are granted enough powers by the federating units to establish and maintain their own local courts, fire service and even police. The general practice in federal systems all over the world is that the councils are often granted enough autonomy, especially financial, which enables them to manage their affairs, establish schools, build roads, clean the environment, build and maintain parks, and provide necessary developmental projects, just as the amended 1999 constitution of Nigeria provides

This is in line with the general recognition of the role of local governments as engines of grassroots development.

In line with its tradition of talking to the heart of federalism, the Federal Government taking development to the grass root the government of President Muhammadu Buhari recently re-emphasised the constitutional financial autonomy to local governments in Nigeria.

This was contained in a media release by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to the effect that from June 1st, 2019, disbursement from the joint state/local government accounts in relation to local government allocations would be exclusively done by local governments and that states would cease to participate in the disbursement.

This was a seal to the autonomy many Nigerians had been agitating for the serially-abused local government system in Nigeria.

The NFIU directive stopped the control of local government funds by states and capped the cash withdrawals by local governments to N500,000daily. The move is seen as the most radical in giving the local governments the needed power to manage their affairs and resources outside the states which have treated local government funds as their own and have leased paltry amounts to the councils.

The local government systems play a crucial role in the transformation of living standards of people because it tends to be physically closer to the people in need of development than the central government. Also, another importance of the local government systems is that it helps to develop the agenda of the country in explaining the implications of government programmes to the people.

Because of its proximity to the people, the local government systems is in a better position to ensure that Government policies are translated into services that will automatically meet the needs of the people.

Without a strong local government, the efforts of the central government in national development agenda will be in vain, because the local government is the link between the central government and the people.

Execution of development projects across Nigeria will create job opportunities in all the 774 councils, the money will circulate among the people, it will boost different businesses and trades. This will reduce the scourge of poverty amongst the rural dwellers, apart from keeping people, especially the youths, busy and more productive.

The local government is, without any doubt, the closest tier of government to the masses. It is the political platform through which the dividends of democracy can be delivered to the population in the grassroots. Accordingly, if the system of local government administration in Nigeria fails then the entire machinery of government becomes ineffectual.

It is often said that democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people. The most visible means by which the electorate, the majority of whom reside in the rural areas, can feel the impact of government is through an efficient local government administration, one that is able to provide basic amenities and reduce vices like terrorism, kidnapping, cultism, neighbourhood gangs, human trafficking and prostitution, baby factories, end dilapidated primary schools and provide primary and basic health facilities.

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