Now That The LG Are Free, By Tajudeen Tijjani

NEWSDAILYNIGERIA: AN autonomous local government in Nigeria today is certainly a plus for the survival of democracy, if given the opportunity to survive.

Now that they are free from incursion by state governors, they have no excuse to underperform in their lawful duty. The eyes of every citizen is focused on them, and watching whether the autonomous chairman will turn their areas into an el-dorado, as the nation await to boot out any one of them who failed to change things from what it was in the past.

Local Government administration, as an integral part of governance should be made free from intervention from any third party, except when failure is established.
As local government in Nigeria are now free to operate, in accordance with the law, they will be held responsible by the people’s court on their performance after office. They must be ready to account for any money allocations given to their local government for development in and out of office.
Today, no local government is tied to the aprons of a state government, and the people are not ready to accept and tolerate any failure. Since they are independent and no one is going into master slave arrangements as was the case in the past, local government are now answerable to the people and must comply.

While the state governor will concentrate on many capital projects, local governments are now in position to work harder for the development of the locals and put a smile on their face. The freedom bestow on local government administration provide a huge opportunity for good governance at the local level and by extension the entire states.
The imperative of both the State Government and the Local Government to work together in harmony have become paramount and must that should not be jestioned by any side . We must discard the past where local government administration has always been accusing State Government of not giving them a room for performance, now the allocation come direct.

The only double edge sword between the state government and the local government in areas where both sides may require assistant, can be solved out, putting the people first in all areas of development. It will not be out of place for a state government to work with the local government administration to provide amenities for the people, in a decent and honest joint agreement.

The only fear express by various people on the arrangements is the power of the governor which they can apply arbitrarily in some cases. Example are the recent local government election in some states, where governor’s made sure they won all the seats. They are in the position to do similar to instill fear in local government chairman, who were allegedly sponsored by the governor.

In this situation, can state governor allow local government chairman to perform freely under such agreement?

Since 1976, when the Dasuki Local Government Reform reports was released, local government system has become an appendage of state government, who dishes out policies without knowing what the people want.

It is also necessary to ask whether the role of the Traditional institution were captured in new local government autonomous law, or what is the government have in the kitty for them as the custodian of history.
How will the autonomous local government tackle the issue of insecurity, when he has no police or other government securities outfit? In Kaduna for example, the state government will do a wonderful job, if it allows local government administration to take over the KADVIS and provide for them offices in local areas, and put them on staff roles, with monthly salary. This we go a long way to reduce the issue of bandits and kidnapper’s, because many of them live in the locality and they are known to them.

The governor can use his power and allow the deployment of the over seven thousands able-bodied men and women the state government trained recently at the Police College.

It is necessary for other states too to improve on these local security outfits, and will go a long way to reduce insecurity in their respective areas. They will serve as a backup for the conventional security outfits to give quick information at all times.

When local government areas are developed, state government will focus on the general development of the entire state for the benefits of the people. The local government should not see themselves as government on its own, but rather as a partner in the entire system, and not to forget, they are still answerable to the State Government.