Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on
Tuesday, gave insight into how the nation’s governors “defraud” the
Local Governments(LGA) in Nigeria, and also rendered them ineffective in
the performance of their statutory functions.
Obasanjo who declared that the governors remained the “greatest
obstacles” to having a virile and functional Councils, alleged that the
state governors “steal” Council funds under the pretext that they have
done something on their behalf.
According to him as soon as the Local Government Allocations were
released from the Federal allocation, the state governors simply deduct
from the source, whatever amount they claimed were spent on behalf of
the Local Governments.
The ex – President made this known during an interactive session
shortly after delivering his keynote address at the maiden International
Conference on Politics, Security and Development, Babcock University,
Ilisan, Ogun State.
The conference themed: “Forty years of Local Government Reforms and
Democratic Development in Nigeria: Critical Perspectives,” and convened
by the department of Political Science and Public Administration,
Veronica Adeleke School of Social Sciences, Babcock University, was
chaired by former Managing Director of Nigerian Airways and politician,
Alh. Jani Ibrahim.
Obasanjo who recalled that he initiated Local Governments reforms
between 1976 and 1979 to make them autonomous, functional and
developmental, lamented that once such money were illegally deducted by
governors, no LGA chairman dare questioned or challenged such
illegality.
“I called such fraud, stealing and corruption. It is fraud, it is
corruption. They will say they have done something or paid for something
for their Local Governments. And when the Local Governments’ money
comes, they take it. Who is that chairman that will tell the Governor
you have taken our money? You are gone,” he said. And earlier in his speech, Obasanjo said not allowing the LGAs to
work as well as stealing of their funds from source by states is one
of the greatest disservice of all political parties in our democratic
experiment.
He noted that experiences have shown that the LGAs in many states
across the country have become the most constitutionally-abused matter
since the 1999 Constitution became operational.
He rued that only a handful of states had held local government
election while others carried on as if it is legal to run local
governments without the Constitution that created them.
Obasanjo decried a situation where most state governors have resorted
to appointing transition committee Chairmen comprising of their
surrogates to oversee the affairs of the Councils, saying the trend has
sadly been sustained till date.
According to him, in States where the polls had been conducted, the
governors, in connivance with corrupt electoral officials subservient to
the governors and ruling party committed malpractices which make
mockery of the process.
“The constitution envisages that the with the allocation from the
Consolidated National Revenue Account to the Local Governments on the
states will be added, the contribution of the State into a joint account
as funding for the functions of the Local Governments.
“Not only did most of the States contribute nothing in breach of the
Constitution, they also devised different dubious programmes and plans
by which they took substantial amount of allocation due to the Local
Governments.
“With that done, most of the Local Government officials just shared
what remained among them without any serious service being undertaken
for the people. It is perpetrated by most of the states,” Obasanjo said.
He however, expressed the optimism that the problems and challenges of LGAs in Nigeria are not beyond solutions.
He said the LGAs have remarkable capacity not only to learn, grow
and adapt but also considerable capacity and flexibility to enter into
effective partnerships with both the private sector and civil society in
delivering services to their constituents.
The ex – President therefore suggested that the LGAs have to be led
by men and women who understand the enormous challenges they face and
the need to focus primarily on those issues that would enhance the
living standards of the masses.
He also suggested that LGAs chairmen have to ensure prudent
management of resources and lay emphasis on accountable and transparent
local governance.
According to him, the principal reason for demanding “accountability
and transparency is to ensure efficient deployment of resources in
effective service delivery.”
But Governor Ibikunle Amosun who was represented by the Secretary to
State Government(SSG), Mr Adeoluwa Taiwo, said his administration
recognised the constitutional provisiona of the LGAs which informed why
it had conducted successful Council elections twice – first in 2012 and
last October 8, in the state.
Amosun also said contrary to the allegations that state governors in
Nigeria routinely nibble at the Councils’ funds, his administration acts
differently and had never dipped its hand into the LGAs’ purse, adding
that he continued to supplement them regularly to the enable the LGAs
pay salaries.
Source: The Nation 
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