One of the serious problems in Nigerias Local Government today is not just on how to eradicate poverty and corruption, but also on how to increase autonomy and empower the people as a way of strengthening the weakened social structure so that the people can take their collective destiny into their own hands. Doing so calls for some approaches and principles of community development that places people at the centre of development effort. In modern usage, Local Government is equated with grassroots participatory democracy. It refers to self-Government of the Local Government for local community by its elected local inhabitants. It is within the framework of grassroots democracy which was intended to make Local Government the bed-rock of socio-economic and political development in the Country that the 1976 Local Government Reform guidelines defined Local Government as; government at the local level exercised through representative Councils established by law to exercise specific powers, to initiate and direct the provision of services and to determine as well as implement projects so as to complement the activities of the State and Federal Government in their areas and to ensure the active participation of the people and their traditional institutions so that local initiative and response to local needs and conditions are maximized. This however will entail a systematic and sustainable empowerment of the people, their constituencies and communities in a direction that empowers them to dictate and determine the content and context of local politics with emphasis on pro-people issues such as, provision of employment opportunities, better health services, greater access to qualitative education, clean drinkable water, human rights and social justice, gender right, environmental protection, transparency, popular participation accountability, ethnic and minority rights, community development, general poverty alleviation and a higher standard of living. This is the context within which current Local Governments in Nigeria are anchored for sustainable grassroots democracy and development. We agree that what the leadership needs at the grassroots is the free flow of funds to it in actuating and actualizing the responsibilities as enormously as spelt above. NULGE would have stopped at such agitation if the selfish human factor of distortion was not imminent. Therefore, WE INSIST ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY and ask that the distinguish Local Government leaderships, the state Governments, the Federal Government and the Trade Union, allied agencies and individuals should know that we all must first strive to produce good leaderships via our collective responsibility where everybody would be a stakeholder and not a share holder. We must move out of the present practice and view as an aberration a situation where people are sacrificing their perfect future for their perfect presence/share. People must be discouraged from money, politicking of issues and the spirit of meritocracy, understanding, etc. must be instilled in all of us. What makes the Local Governments to do well is in the law and not the State Governors. We must straighten the clauses of the law to empower them, protect them from the subjugation of the state governments and enhance their functioning/development. We cannot say at he election of a state Governor that he reserves the ability to rule over the Local Government when the same individuals like him and often better ones are found at the Local levels as chairmen. What makes the Governor better? The fact that he is Governor? No! We must not underscore the fact that someone who is a local Government Chairman could happen to be of more leadership ability than the Governor. The local councils must have their autonomy. AUTONOMY AND NOTHING LESS!
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 15:00:48 +0000
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