Political sophistry in local government autonomy (1)

This is self evident from the handling of the debate and discussions relating to the Lagos State Government deportations or internal evictions. I know of people that had good reasons to intervene in the internal deportation argument and had good perspectives on the issues but held back because of the ethnic and partisan overdose injected […]

This is self evident from the handling of the debate and discussions relating to the Lagos State Government deportations or internal evictions. I know of people that had good reasons to intervene in the internal deportation argument and had good perspectives on the issues but held back because of the ethnic and partisan overdose injected in the whole debate.
The same partisan spin is being injected into the debate relating to the autonomy and/or independence of local governments. The All Progressive Governors Forum triggered the current controversy relating to the autonomy of local governments in Nigeria. In item 4 of their communiqué after their maiden meeting at Lafia, Nasarawa State, on the 14 August 2013 they encapsulated their position on the issue of autonomy and independence of local governments and stated that “The PGF discussed constitutional amendment extensively and resolved that the issue of Local Government Administration, recognizing the fact that Federalism is the basis of our sovereignty, is a matter within the purview of the Federating Unit and every attempt to legislate by the National Assembly on any aspect of Local Government Administration will tilt the country towards a unitary state. This will undermine and weaken the fundamental principles of our federalism”.
Now the buzz is that if you support the position of the “Progressive Governors” then you are a “Progressive” and if you disagree with their position then you must be a member of the Peoples Democratic Party. Yet, both the Progressive Governors and the PDP Governors share the same platform and affinity on the issue of local government autonomy. I can bet that no PDP, APGA or LP governor would have any difficulty agreeing with and endorsing this same position of the Progressive Governors on the issue of local government autonomy.
Yet, we must intervene and rescue discussions from those who would want to kill debates by wrapping the discussions around their political parties and ethnic identities. Their aim is to close the middle ground and stifle debate and they must not be allowed to succeed. It is therefore important to put the issue of what is now called the autonomy of local governments in proper perspective and delineate the federalist arguments relating to the autonomy of local governments.
So, this piece is not about those that call themselves the All Progressive Governors Forum, yet they are part of the challenges of local government autonomy. It is not about the All Progressives Congress (APC), yet they are part of the big picture relating to the autonomy and independence of the various local governments in the country. This piece is not about the governors of the various states and their Houses of Assembly, yet they are part of the problems of the various local governments.
Therefore, to understand the issues, it is better to situate it within the context of the issues that gave rise to the present debate relating to who supports or does not support the autonomy or independence of the local governments.
In the Report of the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on a Bill for an Act to Further Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999; and for other Matters Connected Therewith the House asserted that the people’s public sessions conducted by the House “clearly underscored the need to grant independence and autonomy to Local Government Councils and give the Councils their deserved role as catalysts for development at the grassroots level”.
Accordingly, the House committee created fixed term for local government councils and prescribed consequences by denial of appropriation to councils that are not democratically elected. It also prescribed the mode of election of local government officials, their functions, tenure, qualifications for elections, and other related matters.
The committee and the House also recommended the abrogation of the State Joint Local Government Accounts and empowered each local government council to maintain its own special account to be called “Local Government Council Allocation Account” into which shall be paid directly allocations due to the local government council by the Federal Government from the Federation Account and from the government of the state.
The House agreed with the vote of the people that it was important to protect the integrity of the electoral process at the local government level and respond to the complaints of partisanship of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIEC) accordingly, it deleted the existence of SIECs and vested the power to conduct elections into the local government councils across the federation in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Senate Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution and the Senate itself did not go far but only proposed that the funds of the State Independent Electoral Commission shall be a First Line Charge on the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The All Progressive Governors Forum disagrees with the House and the Senate and the basis of their disagreement is clear. The language of their communiqué is clear and unambiguous and it is not open to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to blame the media for misrepresenting the governors when the governors spoke in a clear language leaving nothing to ambiguity.
The party made three points in what may be termed a clarification of the “ambiguity” in the communiqué of the All Progressive Governors Forum. The first is that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria gives the State Houses of Assembly the power to create local governments. Therefore, autonomy for local governments should be debated at the State Houses of Assembly, not the National Assembly. Secondly, giving control of the local governments to the Federal Government, one of the two federating units in a federalist system of government, will only result in the creation of a unitary government. And thirdly, all local government administrations must be democratically elected in a free and fair election.
To be continued

Okoye is the Executive Director of Human Rights Monitor