Drawbacks

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53

“The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this Constitution guaranteed…” Notwithstanding the constitutional and financial autonomy guarantees, the local government in Nigeria is severely faced indiscriminate control from the State governors.

Arguably, the constitution seems to be ambiguous on the issue of local government autonomy. For instance, while it recognises the local government as the third tier of government, yet, Section 162 (6) states that “Each State shall maintain a special account to be called “State Joint Local Government Account” into which shall be paid all allocation to the Local Government Councils of the State from the Federation Account and from the Government of the State”. But as been observed, those State governors‟ preferences override those of the local councils with regard to the use of the money in that account.

Although there are bills before the National Assembly to tackle the constitutional ambiguity that surrounds the local government autonomy; particularly, with regard to both financial and political autonomy, as well as grant a four-year tenureship for chairmen. At least, if this effort eventually succeeds, the governors will be largely constrained in intervening in the affairs of local councils in their respective States.

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conclusion that funds should not be an issue even with statutory allocations from both the State and Federal government.

On the other hand, local governments get funds from external sources which include:

Statutory allocation from the Federation Account (20.6%), Statutory allocation from State government (10%), Foreign Aids and Grants, Local Government share of Value Added Tax (VAT), Loans from Financial institutions and State government. Specifically, the provision in Section 7 (6) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides, “subject to the provisions of this Constitution the National Assembly shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to the local government councils in the federation; and the House of Assembly of a state shall make provisions for statutory allocation of public revenue to local government councils within the state.” The essence of the above provisions is that firstly;

the local government have direct share of the federally collected revenue. It is the duty of the federal government to fix the amount and terms of apportioning it among all the local governments in the various states. The share is paid to the local government through the state government acting in capacity as trustee. Also, the Constitution imposes a duty on each state government to make grants, which is to be a proportion to its total revenue, to local government councils within its area of jurisdiction as may be prescribed by the federal legislation.

Interestingly, finance/funding has remained a contentious issue in local government administration in Nigeria. Apart from the Joint Account issue raised in the previous section, local councils have always complained of inadequate funds to execute projects. For some scholars and commentators, it is not an issue of lack of funds but rather the mismanagement of resources. While others attribute it to overwhelming control of State governors‟ unnecessary diversion of funds meant for local councils in Joint Account. For instance, in 2006, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) announced a frightening figure, alleging that 31 out of 36 state governors have intrude into the local government council funds. The consequences of these interferences have had direct impact on the capacity of local councils because it is blamed for breeding corruption, misery and disempowerment. Therefore, such situation cannot bring development and community empowerment closer to the people. Following the over bearing influence of State governors with regard to control and use of funds in the State Joint Local Government Account, recently, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) issued a directive to banks not to honour transactions done with the State and Local Governments Joint account, arguing that the account was only meant to distribute allocations to the respective accounts of local governments. Consequently, the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) took the NFIU to court, arguing that the order of NFIU to banks is contrary to the Constitution. But other pro-autonomy bodies like the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) have supported the move of the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), maintaining that State governors overbearing influence to emasculate local government in their respective jurisdiction should be curtailed to ensure smooth and effective administration of local government.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

Examine constitutional provisions for local autonomy in Nigeria.

POL 327 PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

55 4.0 CONCLUSION

The autonomy of local councils has been an issue of contention so that some believe it is the greater requirement for better and effective functioning. Others, State governors see it as undesirable and therefore impracticable. On the other hand, to discharge their functions effectively, they derive their funds from the State government, Federal government and through the internally generated fund made possible by the functions they perform.

5.0 SUMMARY

This unit covered the autonomy of local government councils as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and the finances of local government. Efforts to address the existing lapses or contradictions are ongoing, whether they succeed or not depends on the compromise reached by those opposed to it and those in favour of it. Noteworthy, is that the local government has been the most marginalized of the three tiers of government. And, mostly State governors simply see local councils as extension of a Ministry in their State.

6.0 TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Analyse the sources of funds or finance for local government areas.

7.0 REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Adeyemi, O.O. (2019). Local government administration in Nigeria: A historical perspective. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 9(2), pp. 161-179.

Egwummuo, J.N. (2000). Modern Trends in Administrative Law. Enugu: Academic Publishing Company.

Ibietan, J. & Ndukwe, P. (2014). Local Government Administration in Nigeria and the Localist Theory: Exploring the Nexus. Studies in Social Sciences and Humanities, 1(4), pp.

130-139.

Idahosa, S.A. & Nchuchuwe, F.F. (2005). Local Government Finances in Nigeria: Issues in Generation, Utilization, Accountability and Service Delivery. Nigerian Journal of Policy and Development, 4, pp.100-132.

Momodu, K. M. & Olaide, A. (2011). Constitutional Law & General Principles of Law for Professional Examinations. Lagos: Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Oyediran, O. (1988). Essays on Local Government and Administration in Nigeria. Lagos:

Project Publications Ltd.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) (as amended).

Tonwe, D.A. (2011). Conceptualising Local Government from a multi-dimensional perspective. Higher Education of Social Science 1(1), pp.66-71.

Uhunmwuangho, S.O. & Aibieyi, S. (2013). Problems of revenue generation in Local Government administration in Nigeria. International Journal of Arts and Humanities, 2(3), pp. 192-209.

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UNIT 3: CONTROL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT