NIGERIA AND THE SEARCH FOR DECENTRALIZATION

 

July 21, 2021  · 

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Who Will Save the Local Government Councils from Our Governors?

Can the Federal Government place a hold on the monthly allocation of any State Governor who engages in the misappropriation of Local Governments funds from the Federation Account until such a recalcitrant Governor refund to the LGC every dime so misappropriated by the recalcitrant Governors?

Can we hold the Governors accountable? Who will bell the cat and enforce the spirit of True Federalism? The dictatorship of our Governors is alarming; they can suo motu dismantle a duly constituted local government leadership structure without anyone raising a voice.

To the extent that a democratically elected State Governor can arbitrarily disenfranchise duly elected state legislators and decline to have them administered with the oath of office as he is constitutionally mandated to do is a vivid manifestation of the unchecked authoritarianism within the ranks and files of our state governors.

This gentleman in the video tells a credible story, and he is believable. However, he was not stating the obvious when he stated that nobody is giving to the Federal Government. The Federal Government is the sole overseer of the National Oil Wealth. It dispenses the wealth as it pleases.

In a nutshell, the fact that almost all the Governors in the Federation have misappropriated or misappropriating duly allocated funds to the Local Government Councils does not ipso facto exculpates the Federal Government of Nigeria from constitutional misconduct for turning Nigeria into a Unitary System of Government.

The Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is guilty of aiding and abetting our underdevelopment by its unwillingness to embrace the mechanics of the Decentralization of Power. Aso Rock should start the process.

In sum, the fact that Nigerian Governors are taking N200M from the LGCs accounts, as President Buhari stated in his interview with the Arise TV team, is not sufficient an excuse for the refusal of the National Government to start the process of Restructuring and True Federalism.

Let the devolution of power start from the top by relieving Abuja of most items on the Exclusive Legislative List. And it also comes with a whole load of advantages: The do-or-die struggle for power at the center will drastically reduce. I beg to move.