By Stephanie Shakaa 

The tension between centralization and decentralization is more than just a political debate. It’s a mirror reflecting the country’s deeper governance failures. For decades, power has remained heavily concentrated in the hands of the federal and state governments, creating a top-heavy structure that has failed to deliver meaningful development at the grassroots. What began as a framework for unity has become a bottleneck for progress, fueling inefficiency, unequal development, and a growing disconnect between government and the people it claims to serve.

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The conversation around local government autonomy is no longer an abstract political theory.  It is a matter of national survival. Nigeria can no longer afford to stifle the potential of its local governments. These are the arms of governance closest to the people, best positioned to address the unique challenges of their communities. The real question is no longer whether they should have autonomy but how soon we can make it happen.

For too long, local governments have been reduced to glorified administrative outposts, lacking power, resources, and independence. Despite being constitutionally recognized, they remain shackled by a system that treats them as appendages of state governments. Their capacity to respond to local needs has been crippled by dependence on federal allocations and state governors’ whims.

In July 2024, the Supreme Court of Nigeria issued a landmark ruling that affirmed the constitutional right of local governments to operate independently. This decision should have lit a fire across the nation. It was a rare moment of judicial clarity in a system too often muddled by ambiguity and compromise. For many, it felt like the beginning of long-overdue reform. Finally, the law caught up with the demands of democracy.

But the reaction was not one of excitement. It was silence. The kind of silence that speaks volumes. Instead of bold steps forward, we saw the same old dance hesitation, defiance, indifference. State governors, long accustomed to wielding unchecked influence over local councils, have shown little interest in letting go. Even more disappointing, many local government chairmen who should be the first to embrace their liberation remain passive, uninterested, and in some cases, complicit.

Why this resistance? Is it ignorance? Or is it something more entrenched,something darker embedded in the political DNA of Nigeria?

To understand the inertia, we must confront the truth. Most local government chairmen are not truly elected by the people. In many states, they are handpicked by governors. Appointed, not chosen. And in return for this favor, they offer loyalty, not service. This system of political patronage is the foundation of the problem. It transforms local governance into a transaction, not a responsibility.

At the core of Nigeria’s broken local government system lies a corrosive patronage network. Since they are not elected but handpicked.They pledge unwavering loyalty, not to their communities, they are beholden not to masses but to the political godfathers who installed them.They serve political masters, not the people. This toxic arrangement reduces them to political errand boys, beholden to the whims of state power. They do not serve the people, they serve the interests of the governors. As a result

local governments have become little more than political satellites powerless appendages of the state, stripped of independence, initiative, and accountability.

The result is a deeply compromised structure where those who should be agents of local development become gatekeepers for state interests. It is a betrayal of the very idea of democracy.

The Supreme Court ruling threatens this patronage system, and that’s why it’s being ignored. Governors and chairmen alike are digging in their heels, afraid to loosen their grip on power, afraid to imagine a system where accountability flows from the people, not from political bosses.

But what’s at stake is everything. Local governments are meant to be engines of transformation. They are closest to the people. They know the roads that need fixing, the schools that need teachers, the clinics that need medicine. They see the poverty, the insecurity, the youth without jobs. But they cannot act not effectively without the power to do so.

The cost of this powerlessness is visible everywhere. Education policies crafted in distant capitals miss the mark in remote villages. Health programs fail to account for local realities. Security measures remain abstract and ineffective. And in all of this, the people , the very heart of democracy are left stranded, voiceless, forgotten.

By refusing to implement the Supreme Court’s decision, Nigeria’s political elite are choosing stagnation over progress. They are protecting a system that serves them, while millions continue to suffer. It is not just a failure of leadership it is a failure of imagination. A refusal to envision a Nigeria where power is not hoarded, but shared. Where communities have the tools to shape their own destinies.

Empowering local governments is not a threat to unity it is the key to national renewal. True autonomy would unleash innovation at the grassroots. It would foster accountability, ensure better service delivery, and restore faith in governance. It would break the cycle of dependence and replace it with a culture of participation, responsibility, and progress.

This change will not come easily. It will require dismantling the patronage system that has strangled our democracy. It will demand courage from those in power and relentless pressure from the people. It will call for a cultural shift, where governance is no longer about control but about service.

And that is where the real power lies with the people. Nigerians must rise to the moment. We must demand better. We must insist that the law be more than ink on paper that it be lived, enforced, and respected. We must hold local leaders accountable and refuse to accept the status quo.

The Supreme Court has spoken. Now it is time for the political class to act. And if they don’t, it is time for the people to remind them who truly holds power in a democracy.

Will Nigeria finally give its local governments the autonomy they deserve? Or will we remain trapped in a system designed to serve the few at the expense of the many?

This is our moment of truth. The answer lies with us.