***wants LG elections conducted by INEC
The Senate has blamed state governors for holding back the development of the grassroots through deliberate misappropriation of funds meant for Local Government Areas.
Adopting a motion sponsored by Senator Suleiman AbdulRahman Kawu, (NNPP, Kano state), the Senate also advocated for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to given the leeway to conduct of all local government elections.
The senate called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently initiate a national discussion with relevant stakeholders that would culminate in removing Local Government from the shackle of state Governments
Contributing to debate on the motion, Deputy President of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, who presided over yesterday’s plenary session, lamented that conduct of local government elections has lost credibility.
He noted that unlike the early days of democracy when local government elections were conducted in a free and fair manner, there is no longer respect for such elections because of immense irregularities and abuses.
On the abuse of local government funds, Barau expressed disgust that “some governors are misappropriating LG funds”
He said “during the Military and early part of the 4th Republic, the local government areas were having their autonomy and there was full sense of security prevailing there. The economies of all these local governments was booming. Rural urban migration was very small. Even councilors were awarding contracts; the money was there and they were doing very well. Even some local governments were doing very because the have their internally generated revenue.
“Why did that happen? First of all, all of you have forgotten who conducted that local government election that brought those people to power. It was Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It was not State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM). People went on their own, contested elections, they weren’t errand boy of anybody. They won their elections. These are people with credibility who knew what they were doing. That is why you have that scenario the way it was” Jibrin stressed.
Continuing, the deputy senate president said:
“Now there are no elections; they are just called elections. Some were even sworn in in shrines, Churches and Mosques saying if you put my name, I will ever be loyal to you. So, what do you expect from those people? After the grant has been given to local governments, they will give them blank cheques to sign and that money will be removed in line with the whelms and caprices of the state governors. We know this. You will see paper works, everything being done properly, but that is what you could see on a mere paper, but the real thing is done according to the whelms and caprices of the state governors.
Agreeing with prayers of the motion, Jibrin said “as it is being said, the president is a true, progressive democrat. He believes in the autonomy of the local government. But in this process, he will only lead, then we in the National Assembly will follow and then he will convince the governors.
“We are operating in a democracy, the governors control the state assemblies. I’m sorry to say this but it is a fact. Let them understand, so that we will have it just like before, have normalcy in our local governments.
“Now, all these billions of federal government funds to provide bore holes, build health centers in all our local governments, after you have done that, those projects remain unattended to, nobody maintains them. They rot away because the local governments that are supposed to maintain them, just because of N5,000 to buy small nut to fix a bore hole, the bore hole will remain like that because the councillor or chairman who should provide the money doesn’t have the funds” He added.
The Senate is also of the opinion that further allocation of funds to caretaker Committee-led local government areas be halted .
The upper legislative chamber equally urged Tinubu to “champion the cause of full autonomy for local governments in our nation” adding that “the challenges we face in the forms of persistent security threats, Rural Urban Migration, decaying infrastructure, and widespread unemployment demand bold action”
“And we believe that empowering local governments holds the key to unlocking a brighter future for all Nigerians” the Senate declared.
On the need for a national discussion on the autonomy for local government areas,the Senate said it believes that “convening a national dialogue involving governors, state legislators, local government officials, civil society organizations, and community leaders to discuss the roadmap towards achieving full local government autonomy would be useful in solving the country’s teething problems.
It urged Federal agencies to fully comply with existing legal provisions that empower local governments, ensuring timely release of allocated funds directly to their bank accounts and streamlining administrative processes;”The president should use his leadership and influence to persuade the federating units and all critical stakeholders in the constitutional alteration processes and administrative bottlenecks to embrace the vision of full local government autonomy in such a way that will grant them control over their resources, decisionmaking authority, and the power to chart their development paths”