Khadijah Haliru

It is where we elect and not only who we elect that will propel us into the development of the future. Demanding more at the local level starts with having elected the right people at local levels. It’s 2023, and the elections again got every Nigerian worked up. But, I watch in dismay as the machinery of government has been turned on its head.

The fact that no matter how much we love our candidates, the very agent of change is not who will win the presidency and who has more vision, it will be in demanding that the Nigerian constitution be respected and that attention returns to the local governments. Who is running for a chairman’s seat is more important than the president or governors if Nigeria wants to change.

I want to do my best in helping my country raise from the ashes of our past as we forge into a new era.

First, I must say I was disappointed that we couldn’t get the younger generation into the running at the federal level but I feel we’ve missed an opportunity here. The story is again for only those with clout to get to run the county and one wonders why there is such an abuse of rule of law. Those who fund you to run will always own you and not the people who elect you. At least this is true for our politics in many cases.

In our Nigerian constitution, it’s the local government level that is tasked with all the things that matter most to the electorate. If you are concerned about who will be making recommendations to the State, it is the local government’s chairman. It is only if you elect a good governor that they will respect what the local governments need and help provide monies received from the federal government.

Where governors have eliminated local government’s chairmen in the past and replaced them with puppets, or completely established administrators as the norm, Nigerians need to demand the return of the chairperson as an elected official who is accountable to the people and not the governor. It is the reason most states can no longer deliver to the people instead they stuff their pockets.

The local government’s chairman should be one who is educated enough to bring the much-needed changes. Nigeria, please pay attention to who you elect. For those who want change, step up to build from the ground up. All the protesters, community builders, and social change organisers. Challenge local elections and so I hope the dream starts now. In the next 3 years prepare to take back your country.

At the local government levels, the true leader of the community emerges, one who lives and understands the needs of their communities the best. They know the area’s priorities, bottlenecks and opportunities. They are directly responsible for the collection of taxes and fees, and the establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm.

Nigerian local governments are agents of change because they are responsible for delivering important services to the citizens at the grassroots level. They provide essential services such as education, healthcare, sanitation, roads, and others. Local authorities also play a major role in ensuring that the people living in their areas have access to proper healthcare facilities, educational resources, and employment opportunities. Local governments are in a unique position to respond to the needs of their communities and use their resources to facilitate meaningful change.

They are also responsible for playing a major role in delivering macroeconomic policies, recommending to state governments what they need to be included in the budgets such as infrastructure development, that can actually bring real and lasting improvements for people in both urban cities and rural areas.

So, for any reasonable person, it is important and easy to see why we need to place value and attention on the local leader than on the federal or state politician. I cannot understand why the politicians themselves do not feel the need to focus their message on what can happen at the local level. You see they simply aren’t thinking that deeply.

We need the government to highlight local government elections in the next year to allow for grassroots to build up. To allow young people to change their communities. Nigeria can only be built from the ground up and not from the top down. The only thing you get from a top-down government is hand-downs. The people who receive without a pull from the grassroots can only feed themselves and their families and never get the real ability to influence or make change because the very machinery of change is not at the state level.

There are 774 local government areas in the Nigerian government structure. Can you imagine 774 people heading local areas to development? Those 774 heads of local governments together control over 200 million people, not the president or governors. Don’t you prefer that each of them competes to make towns, cities and capitals better managed and run than those who control the nation’s income? The governor and the president’s role should be in making sure there is a consistent flow of income to local authorities so people can feel their governments are doing something. If you think this way and truly want the best for Nigeria, shouldn’t you also care enough to know who to trust at the community level?

I beg Nigerians to start to see the role politicians play differently, stop killing yourselves for no one. Start asking more questions, and the media should do more reporting to educate the nation. I rest my case.

Khadijah Haliru is Councillor, Town of Ingersoll, Ontario Canada.