By Kingsley Adegboye

As the country grapples with enforcing financial autonomy granted local governments in Nigeria by the Supreme Court, a professor of Law at the University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Oludayo Amokaye (SAN), has called for urgent need to resolve issues threatening effective local government administration in the nation.

Speaking as Guest Lecturer at the 20th Annual  Pa Adekunle Kukoyi Memorial Lecture with the theme “Usurpation of Powers and Functions: The Case of Local Government Administration and Autonomy in Nigeria” organised by the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Lagos State branch, disclosed that despite the lofty objectives of the brains of the writers of the Nigerian constitution, local governments in Nigeria have been facing an existential threat and gross erosion of their autonomy.

The legal icon noted that “This threat arises from the usurpation of their functions by some state governments, which deny them the opportunity to assume their socio-economic and political functions of transforming their local communities. These state governments view the local government as their appendages, and by usurping and depriving it, they indirectly deprive the citizens of the benefits of local government democracy and governance.

“The blame for the state governments’ usurpation of Local Government’s powers and functions can be laid solely at the door of the Constitution. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, like legislations before it, failed to address the dependent state of the Nigerian Local Government, and this can be gleaned from the combined reading of sections 7, 8, 124(3,4), 162(5) and 4th schedule of the CFRN 1999.”

Explaining that one of the most significant challenges to local government governance in the country is the non-democratisation of the electoral process, Amokaye added that election into the local government is vested in the state government which in most cases is not conducted.

According tohim, “Where such elections take place, the party in government in the affected State often uses the state apparatus to rig the election in favour of their party’s candidates, thereby eroding their autonomy and independence and undermining the democratic process.”

To resolve these issues, he stressed need for immediate amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to remove all the ambiguities as to the status, creation, funding and duties of the local government with a view to bringing into line the recent decisions of the Supreme Court on local government autonomy and strengthen the local government as a competent, efficient and effective third tier of government to the benefit of all Nigerians.

He said “State governments must ensure democratic governance at the local government level. This can be achieved through free and fair elections and the institutionalisation of local government autonomy. The independence of the state electoral commission must be strengthened and guaranteed from political manipulation by state governments.

“Regular periodic auditing of the accounting records of the Local Governments by the State Government to ensure that funds allocated to them are appropriately utilised. Prosecution of corrupt local government officials.”

In his remarks earlier, the Lagos NIS Chairman, Surv. Olukolade Kassim said Surv. Adekunle Kukoyi who was the president of the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors from 1973-1978 and first President of the Association of Professional Bodies of Nigeria (APBN) remains an icon for many in the surveying profession.

According to him, “Our lecture themes over the years have cut across issues affecting our society – leadership and good governance, integrity, socio-economic development, to name a few; I would like to thank all past lecturers and all participants who have contributed to making the lecture series a success over the years.”