Wale Jagun & Rahman Sulaimon (trainee)
-Economic recession, unjust allocation, state control, lack of agenda, others are problems – Discussants
-There is need for restructuring of allocation formula – Council Chairmen
Disturbed by the lack of impact of local governments on the grassroots, the Concerned Ikorodu Division Youths (CIDY), on Thursday, August 26, 2021, gathered stakeholders to examine the challenges confronting the system with the aim of finding solutions.
The 500 – seater auditorium, Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu main campus, was the venue of the panel session where stakeholders had serious deliberation with Council Chairmen and other council functionaries.
Former Commissioner for Information & Strategy and a two – term Chairman, Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan was the guest speaker while former Chairman, Lagos State Local Government Commission and one time Head of Service (HoS), Bashorun Babatunde Rotinwa was the Chairman of the panel session.
Discussants at the session, who were selected from different backgrounds, included High Chief Tajudeen Duduyemi Onasanya, the Odofin of Igbogbo, Otunba Ganiyu Abiru, former Chairman, Ikorodu – Oga Development Association (IKODASS), Mr Fatai Lasisi, a Chartered Accountant, Barr. Ola Animashaun, a Legal Practitioner, Barr. S.O.K Shilings, a Legal Practitioner, Alhaji Luqman Sonibare, Chairman, Community Development Committee (CDC), Ikorodu LG, Comrade Japheth Odesanya, Publisher, Factor Newsmagazine and Comrade Olalekan Biliamin Oba, Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Lagos State Chapter.
Also present to participate in the session were Council Chairmen in lkorodu division among whom were Hon. Adeola Banjo, Chairman, Ikorodu North LCDA, Builder Sesan Daini, Chairman, Igbogbo/BayekuLCDA and Wasiu Agoro, Chairman, Imota LCDA, while Hon. Wasiu Adeshina, Chairman, Ikorodu Local Government, sent a representative.
Also in attendance were Prince Folashade Olabanji – Oba, Vice Chairman, Ikorodu LG, Hon. Ameen Olawale Apanisile, Vice Chairman, Ikorodu North LCDA and Hon. Kabir Femi Kazeem Vice Chairman, Ijede LCDA.
Hon. Niran Adeyemi, the Deputy Council Leader, Ikorodu North LCDA, was the only Council legislator in attendance.
Setting the tone for the session, the Coordinator of the group and Publisher of THE IMPACT Newspaper, Kunle Adelabu said that the gathering was necessary to set an agenda for the six council chairmen in Ikorodu division for the next four years.
He stated that the youths in the division deemed it necessary to engage stakeholders and council administrators at the beginning of another four years term on the expectations of the people from them vis-a-vis their own expectations from the residents rather than just criticizing them.
“We are gathered here today to see how we can, together as a people, chart the way forward for our councils in Ikorodu Division. We are bothered about the impact of the local government administration and the lack of it”, Adelabu said.
“Sincerely, people are not happy with the situation and they are expressing their grievances through voters’ apathy like we witnessed in the last local government elections. People refused to come out to vote because they are not seeing anything as dividends.
“They also refused to pay taxes because they are not seeing the corresponding benefits for all that they have been paying”, he added.
“So, we feel it necessary to call this gathering to engage and find the way forward on how to make the local government work for the people and also make the people believe and empower the councils to work”.
Adelabu added that the gathering is also meant to set agenda for the newly elected local government chairmen.
The CIDY Coordinator also said that the session was also aimed at promoting “the Town and the Gown” relationship between the Lagos State Polytechnic community and the Ikorodu community.
He added that the programme was the first of many engagements that are to come as part of the CIDY’s efforts in making local government works.
Hon. Kehinde Bamigbetan, in his keynote address, identified the continuous economic recession and imbalance in the composition of the country’s federating unit as major problems facing the effectiveness of the local government administration in Ikorodu, Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.
“The deepening economic recession is the cumulative consequence of the imposition of the Structural Adjustment Programme and the mismanagement of the country’s debt crises to meet the terms of the lenders”, Bamigbetan said.
“The policies of devaluation, privatization, retrenchment, commercialization of social services have led to hyperinflation and a decline in the purchasing power of the government as well as the citizens. In this situation, revenue generation through taxation has become a serious challenge for the government. Industrial and agricultural production is threatened by insecurity. Where will the local governments mobilise the resources to deliver the dividends?”, the keynote speaker asked rhetorically.
“The naked injustice of keeping Lagos State, Nigeria’s industrial and financial capital, in the jacket of 20 local governments despite its exposure to regional and national migration and environmental pressure on its infrastructures, is most graphic in Ikorodu division. Only one recognized local government, Ikorodu LGA, services the 5 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs)”.
He further stated that the injustice against Lagos State, which, according to him, also affected its local governments, are in three – fold, namely; denial of the state to increase its council areas, revenue sharing formula and the denial of the state to collect sales taxes.
“This injustice is at three levels. The old Kano State, created at the same time as Lagos State in 1967, now has 70 local governments. This comprises the current 44 and 26 of Jigawa that was carved out of it in 1991. Thus, federal allocation comes to the people of the old Kano State through 70 administrative units while Lagos is denied the opportunity to increase the sources of its federal revenue through local governments to 57”, the former council chairman said.
“The second level of the injustice is that the basis of the revenue allocation is meant to be revised at intervals. This would have benefitted Lagos State but this is not the case.
“The third is that certain taxable items such as the Value Added Tax, which is a sales tax, are residual functions of the state as component units of the federation. Yet, the courts are not persuaded to grant states this constitutional responsibility”, he said.
In the face of the present reality, Bamigbetan enjoined council chairmen to be frugal in their financial management, cut waste and block leakages and also be innovative in delivering the dividends of democracy to the people.
“This implies that there is no enough money in the government’s kitty to solve the critical problems identified by the stakeholders. With few resources for dividends, prudence and frugality become central to financial management in local governments. Cutting waste and blocking leakages are keys to success. Creativity and innovation provide the levers for scaling the hurdles.
“With frugal culture and creative management, local governments can invest their resources in the welfare of the citizens.
“Programmes such as free meals and free uniforms promote child enrolment and payment of development levy by parents. Free drugs and basic laboratory services keep more people healthy an boost goodwill. Grants to cooperatives keep petty traders and small scale business owners in business. Trust me. They work. I had tried them before”, Bamigbetan advised.
In his own submission, the Chairman of the session, Bashorun Babatunde Rotinwa attributed problems confronting councils to the overbearing nature of the state government, lack of understanding on the part of the council administrators on what to do, mismanagement of resources and failure on the part of residents to engage those in charge.
“ The problem is not even within the structure itself because we have lots of instruments that established the local government system. We have the Constitution of Nigeria, the first schedule that talks about delegated functions of local government.
“The state has excessive control over the local government. That is one of the problems”, Bashorun said.
“Hardly is 50 to 70% of the allocation from the federation account gets to the local governments.
Speaking on his efforts to restructure local government finances while he was at the helms affairs of the State’s Local Government Service Commission, Basorun Rotinwa said:
“I remember when I was appointed as the chairman, local government service commission, even if it wasn’t part of my functions, I took it up that I wanted to monitor the revenue of local governments because they were performing poorly in that regard”, he recalled.
“The governor then, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, got to know about it and I assured him that we would improve on it.
“We started with 10% and I assured them that we would get 100% and by the time we left office, those that underperformed and those that were active were able to reach 85% but I don’t know what the situation is now”, he added.
Mr Fatai O. Lasisi, former Special Adviser to the governor of Lagos State, discussing the theme, said that systemic and attitudes of residents are major issues preventing workability of the council administration.
To him, the constitution that established local government as the third tier of government with functions, also vested its control on the state government. A situation that he said needed revisiting if councils are to work independently and deliver on their functions.
He also deplored the attitudes of residents who are putting unnecessary pressures on the council functionaries and called for change in attitudes.
The Odofin of Igbogbo, High Chief Tajudeen Onasanya, in his own submission, adduced the lack of autonomy, poor IGR, interference by political leaders and failure to involve traditional rulers in the local government affairs, as some of the problems affecting council administration.
Chief Onasanya called for electronic management for IGR, accountability of Council administrators for their days in office, autonomy and the active involvement of the traditional rulers in the administration of councils in their respective domains.
Former Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikorodu, Barr. Saheed O.K. Shillings, called for a change in the mindset of those going into Council administration if things are to change for better.
He was also of the view that most of the elected officials must develop a desire to do something meaningful with the resources in their care and not wait till they have so much.
Shillings also charged that chairmen to use their offices for the good of the community and people and not for themselves.
He described governors in the country as the biggest threats to effective running of the local government administration.
A former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly and a legal practitioner, Barr. Ola Animashaun who deplored the bandwagon effects of a particular ruling party in state winning the local council elections, also blamed what he described as unjust revenue sharing in the country on the lack of effectiveness in the local government administration.
Comrade Japheth Odesanya, Publisher of the Factor Newsmagazine and former Secretary to Ikorodu Local Government, described the concept of Joint Account Committee (JAC) as criminal and called for it to be addressed.
He also blamed council chairmen for enriching themselves at the expense of the masses while also accusing them of lack of innovation in bringing about desired change.
Alhaji Luqman Sonibare, Chairman of the Community Development Committee (CDC) in Ikorodu Local Government, lamented the failure of the council administrators to work closely with community developers in engendering development in the councils.
The number one CDA/CDC functionary in Ikorodu, who also said that the council revenue is not properly being managed, also charged that council chairmen should work with members of CDAs in revenue generation and blockade of leakages.
Comrade Olalekan Biliamin Oba, the State Chairman, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), in his own submission at the session, said that more attention should be given to council workers and not the politicians if there is to be effective local government administration.
Meanwhile, council chairmen in Ikorodu Division have appealed for understanding, stating that they are aware of issues surrounding the local government administration.
Builder Sesan Daini, Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, who spoke on behalf of other council administrators in the division, said that the issues are not about them but the system that created the local government system.
He called for restructuring in the federal allocation sharing formula to give local governments the highest share of the federal revenues.
“I just want to appeal to everyone on behalf of my colleagues that we are aware that there are issues around local government administration but it is not about us”, Builder Daini said.
“It is about the way the system was designed and that will take me to the sharing formula for the federation allocation.
“If we take note, we will know that Local government is an arm of government that has direct impact and direct relationship with the people and if we take a critical look at the situation, we will realize that lots of developments and projects come from the local government.
“Giving the local government the lowest share of the federation allocation will definitely not promote development simply because local government that is supposed to do a lot of agricultural development, physical planning and a lots of things that will have employment output and with consequent effects on socio – economic development, are collecting less why those at the centre are collecting the highest part of the money”, Daini said.
“I want to equally say that part of what will help the local government generally is restructuring the federal allocation sharing formula and making sure that the local government gets the highest share and after doing that, I also believe there should be more internal control for checking to ensure that the monies are used judiciously and not abused by the councils”.
