In Imo, LGAs are literally in comatose —Indigenes
We’re impacting lives in our councils —Abia Mayors
Not true, Council authorities are redundant —Residents
State govt stifling Enugu LGs —Former Council chairman
By Steve Oko, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Dennis Agbo, Jeff Agbodo & Nwabueze Okonkwo
ENUGU—LOCAL Government governance is the closest avenue for the rural people to feel the impact of modern development.
The councils are supposed to provide some constitutionally assigned vital social and economic amenities to the residents. These responsibilities have even become imperative, considering the fact that the councils are supposed to be collecting huge Federal revenue allocations direct from Abuja.
But residents of many councils in the South-East region, particularly the rural dwellers, are sharply divided on the positive impact of their Councils’ administration on them.
LGCs are literally comatose in Imo
In Imo State, residents who spoke to SEV observed that local councils in the state, especially those in the rural areas, are simply not working.
According to Chief Stephen Onyirukwu: “We were highly elated when the Supreme Court granted the councils financial autonomy. But events have since shown that our local governments are still not financially independent. The sad thing is that we have not heard of any local government chairman complaining about the situation. Anyway, none of them will take the risk of complaining because they know how they came into office. It will be very strange to see them bite the finger that is feeding them. Mum remains the word, and things keep spoiling.
“Feelers we get from outside the system are that the state government controls the funds meant for the local councils. Where we go from here remains a matter of guesswork, and I don’t see succeeding state administrations not continuing with the faulty system.”
A female staff member of one of the councils in the state, who simply identified herself as Ugochi, said: “Not much is going on in the local government headquarters.
“Nobody wanted to risk his or her life going to work in a very unsafe environment. I don’t need to mention names; we all know the council areas where the indigenes dreaded to reside in. A good percentage of local council administrators operate from Owerri, which they consider a safe haven. So, nothing basically can be said to be happening in the council areas.
“I can’t remember seeing any contractor working on any road, reconstructing dilapidated classrooms, upgrading health centres or sinking water boreholes in any rural community.
“Virtually all the roads leading to most local council headquarters are inaccessible during the rainy season. This is a huge minus to local government administration and development. Let us hope that things would change if security returns and local council operators are given a free hand to work as the third tier of government.”
Mazi Sylvester Ikechukwu Okenwa was satirical in his opinion. He said: “Tell me what is working as expected in Nigeria? Gone are the days when we were told what each local government got from the federation account. Today, everything seems to be shrouded in secrecy. When figures are published on paper, what hits the banks is different.
“Nobody cares. No clamour for probity. No protests. It is business as usual.
“Have we forgotten that there was a time when local governments floated viable transport companies? Why have they gone extinct? There are so many unanswered questions about local government administration in the state.”
We are impacting lives in our councils —Abia Mayor
The Mayor of Umuahia South Council, Hon. Chinedu Enweruzo, said his administration had been carrying out development projects and making great impacts in different sectors, especially in infrastructure and agriculture.
He noted that some notable impactful projects had been undertaken by the Council as part of deliberate efforts to widen democracy gains at the grassroots.
The Mayor explained that he had deliberately invested in agriculture to create job opportunities for women and youths in the Council.
“We have 5.7 hectares of land fully cultivated with ginger, cassava, and groundnuts”, he said.
Besides this, the Mayor also said the Council had a poultry farm as well as a vegetable farm, adding that over 20 persons were engaged in the Council’s farming activities.
He equally noted that the Council is building a 100-stall shopping complex at Amakama to provide an enabling environment for traders to thrive.
Similarly, the Aba South LGA Chairman, Hon. Anyanwu Obilor, said the Council has made tremendous efforts to impact the grassroots. He noted that though Aba South appears metropolitan, there are still so many rural communities in the council which his administration is making efforts to give a sense of belonging. He disclosed that the Council had also made some inroads into agriculture as a means of providing empowerment for the people.
He said: “There’s a rollout already on agriculture intervention in Aba South Local Government. We are concentrating on piggery and poultry farming. We have 26 plots of land that we’ve already leased for the project. Six of our staff in the agriculture department are currently on training on piggery at a popular piggery farm in Isiala Ngwa South LGA.”
The Mayor also said his administration had been providing free school bags for pupils in the Council in support of the ongoing revolution by Gov. Alex Otti in the education sector.”
Not true, council authorities are redundant —Aba resident
But a resident of Aba, Comrade Nnanna Nwafor, disagrees with the Mayors, insisting that the local government authorities are not making a positive impact on the rural communities. He accused them of being redundant, saying that Capital Development Authorities created by the State Government have completely taken over their jobs and are now providing some basic amenities that ought to be the responsibility of the councils.
Also, more residents of communities in Abia State have lamented that the local government areas are no longer playing their roles as the closest level of government to the grassroots, noting that in the olden days, the local government authorities graded local roads, constructed boreholes, distributed fertilisers, farm implements and erected and equipped health centres for the residents of the communities; noting however, that the local government authorities no longer execute such functions and blamed the problems on the interference by the state governors who hijack local government allocations.
A retired civil servant in the Abia State Local Government system, Michael Onyeobia, observed that the golden era of local government administration was from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, when the local government authorities attended to the needs of the communities by providing social amenities.
He said: “Local governments no longer perform the functions for which they were established. It was not the situation in the past. The golden era of local government administration was the late 1970s to the early 1990s. This was when local government authorities graded roads, sunk boreholes in the communities, and even distributed fertilisers and farm implements to the local farmers.
“Today, no local government authority has the capacity to grade roads, not to mention the distribution of fertilisers, farm implements, or engage in building health centres as was done in the past. The chairmen used to visit and interact with the community people to know their problems, but today, such visits are non-existent.
“The chairmen are idle and lack the capacity to execute any project because the governors hijack council allocations. Corruption has killed the system. This is why no development is taking place in the communities.”
Another resident from Ukwa West Council spoke to SEV and said the local government authority has not carried out any development project in his community in the last 10 years.
“Local governments no longer exist. Ukwa West is an oil-producing area, but in the last 10 years, the local government has not undertaken any project in my community. I don’t even know who the local government chairman is. There’s not even a single impact of the local government administration in my community.”
A resident of Enugu North Council, former Dean of the Faculty of Law in the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, ESUT, Prof. Agu Gab Agu, said that the people of Enugu North Council have been feeling the impact of good governance from the council administration, particularly in the present dispensation.
Agu said that roads, among other social amenities, were being provided by the local government administration in the council area under the leadership of Dr. Ibenaku Onoh, but said that he may not be able to ascertain what happens in other council areas of the state.
“In Enugu North, there are some impacts being made, such as roads that are being constructed, but I may not be able to discuss them generally. However, a lot need to be done generally because from what I hear about other places, not much is being done, and if you look at the council chairmen, most of them are not even resident in the areas. They move around the city centres,” Agu said.
The former Chairman of Nkanu West Local Government Area, Barr. Ray Nnaji, attributed the problem of the councils in Enugu State to the economic strangulation of the councils by the state government.
According to Nnaji, the highly celebrated increased federal allocation to the councils only exists on paper, and expressed doubt if the councils have started receiving their allocations directly, the way they are supposed to receive.
“If they are getting their money directly, that impact has not been felt. I don’t think so because it has no reflection on the welfare of the people. I don’t believe that the state government has allowed them to have their funds directly, and if they have their funds directly, have they been making use of it for the benefit of the people? The answer is no,” Nnaji said.
However, the Chairman of Isi-Uzo Local Government Council, Hon. Obiora Obeagu, said he can beat his chest to say that the people in the rural communities of his council have been feeling the impact of the local government administration.
Obeagu cited the human empowerment initiatives of the council, the asphalting of roads with a concrete bridge across the Ebenyi River in Eha-Amufu, the street lighting project, free healthcare services and most of all, the restoration of security to the local government council that was previously endangered with security breaches.
“There are also the provisions of basic infrastructure at the local government secretariat with the new secretariat building, the fencing, asphalting of the premises, among others.”
In Ebonyi State, residents said that if the local government autonomy is fully implemented, the rural areas would positively feel the impact. According to them, with whatever they are receiving now, we can see many projects springing up in rural communities being executed by the local government councils. The councils said they partner with the state government to provide infrastructure in rural communities.
The State Chairman of ALGON, Chinedu Uburu, said they have been enjoying autonomy under Governor Francis Nwifuru even before the pronouncement by the Supreme Court. He said that the state government and the councils have been doing joint projects ranging from building roads, bridges and housing in rural areas.
“As of today, every local government council is executing two kilometres of road in all the communities in the state. Through the joint projects, we are executing the building of Palaces for all the traditional rulers in the state.
“We are also building culverts, providing street lights and skills empowerment for rural dwellers in the state. All these are going on in all the council areas because we are receiving our allocations. We thank Governor Nwifuru for the free hand given us to run our offices without interference,” he stated.
A farmer in Agbaja Izzi, Mr. Benson Nwojiji, agreed that there is transformation across the local government areas.
“There are so many projects springing up across the council areas. In my area, there are rural roads completed and ongoing initiatives by the council.”
A trader at Ishiagu in Ivo Local Government Area, Mrs. Stella Ajah, commended Governor Nwifuru for giving council chairmen free hand to pilot the affairs of the councils.
We don’t receive our full allocation, we can’t do much -Anambra councils
In Anambra State, the impact of local governance from the councils is not felt in most of the areas. Just very few of them had embarked on the construction or grading of rural roads. Most of the rural roads they claimed to have been done were actually built by philanthropists from such communities which they usually invited the governor to commission. A senior Council officer in one of the councils told SEV that Governor Chukwuma Soludo “has crippled them” by not allowing them to receive their money in full.
According to him, immediately after the Supreme Court judgment, the State House of Assembly was to enact a law that empowers him to utilise a greater percentage of council funds and allow the councils to retain “mere administrative funds,” which he said could hardly run the councils after paying workers.
But a resident of Onitsha South Council, one of the very rich councils in the state, Ifeanyi Nnopu, said the incumbent Mayor of the council, Chief Emeka Orji and his team, are trying their best to provide the dividends of democracy at the grassroots level. He said they have at least recorded some remarkable achievements in the areas of security and environmental cleanliness.
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