NBA State Of The Nation Discourse 2025: An Analysis Of The Role Of State And Local Government Leaders: Challenges And Problems

AN ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERS: CHALLENGES AND PROBLEMS

The place value of the State and Local Government Areas (LGA) in terms of proximity to the people at the grassroots is critical. They especially the LGAs feel the pulse the masses the most. Leadership strength/stability or weakness/ instability at these levels of government is most significant in that it impacts the populace the most.

Over the years, the problem of lack of autonomy of the LGs has remained a major challenge to efficiency of role of the grassroots government. Overriding interference in the operations of the LGs by the State Government has remained a clog in the wheel of progress. However, the recent landmark policy decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Attorney-General of the Federation v. Attorney-General of Abia State & 35 Ors has become a watershed in LG administration particularly on the issue of fiscal autonomy of the third tier of government.

In this brief inquiry, we shall focus on and explore certain key areas of responsibility, challenges and problems of both the State and LGs in relation to their roles.

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered) (“the Constitution”) is the go-to authoritative legal source document in our discourse. It establishes the sovereign state of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory. It further recognizes a third cadre of government, namely Local Government Areas. It guarantees the system of Local Government by democratically elected local government councils and mandates the Government of every State to ensure their existence under a Law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of such councils. Thus, the three tiers/levels of government in the Federal Republic of Nigeria comprise the Federal, State and Local Governments.

Nigeria, as a sovereign State, has evolved over time. An examination of Nigeria’s history shows that its systems and structure of government have metamorphosed through various forms to its present state like an imago from the egg stage, through the larval and pupal stages.

Leadership at the State Government level consists of key functionaries including:

The Governor: The executive powers of a State of the Federation is vested in the Governor of that State. Thus, he is the Chief Executive of a State. He is to exercise such powers either directly or indirectly in line with the provisions of the Constitution and relevant laws. He is responsible for policy execution, security, budgeting, economic development, and infrastructure.

The Deputy Governor: He assists the governor and takes charge in his absence. The Governor may exercise executive powers through him.

State Executive Council: This comprises commissioners who oversee ministries such as health, education, works, agriculture, transportation, etc.

State House of Assembly: This constitutes legislators who make laws, exercise oversights by providing checks and balance to the executive, approve budgets, etc.

The State Judiciary: This is made up of the State High Courts. The inferior courts are not left out. They ensure justice through interpretation of laws thereby providing checks and balance both to the executive and legislative arms of government.

Leadership at the LG level also involves important personnel who work synergistically to ensure delivery of the dividends of democracy to the people at the grassroots. Among these key functionaries are:

Chairman of the LGA: He is the Chief Executive of the LG responsible for grassroots governance, formulation of local polices and community project development as well as champions internally generated revenue (IGR).

Vice Chairman: He/She acts as an assistant to the Chairman in the course of administration.

Councilors: These LG officers act as Representatives of wards within the LGA. They make by-laws, and approve budgets.

Supervisory Counselors: They head various departments such as health, education, and works.

Local Government has also been is the system of political decentralization in which power base of decision making is not national but local, in this system functions are locally and directly executed by elected officials who have direct control over local affairs (Wunsch, 2008). According to the United Nations Office for Public Administration, a local government refers to a political sub divisions of nation or (in federal system), state, which is constituted by law and has substantial control of local affairs, including the powers to impose taxes or to exact labour for prescribed purposes. The indicators in the above definition connotes citizen participation in the management of local affairs; efficient and equitable provision for essential services and resource mobilization for development purposes. It is a system of local administration under which local communities and towns are organized to maintain law and order, provide some limited range of social services and public amenities and encourage the co-operation and participation of the inhabitants in joint endeavour towards the improvement of their living.

The domain of LG operation is the grassroots. Grassroots democracy is the most basic expression of an ideal LG in a democracy because at that level, its all about the people. Grassroots democracy, which is the area of coverage of LG, has to do with a tendency towards designing political processes that shift as much decision-making authority as practical to the organization’s lowest geographic or social level of organization. It refers to a system of governance where decision-making power is vested in local communities, emphasizing participation, inclusivity, and self-determination. It involves decentralization and distribution of power, active citizen participation and involvement in decision-making, inclusivity in that all relevant stakeholders share equal opportunities to make valuable contributions, leaders are transparent and accountable to the community, self-determination as a result of which local communities exercise the freedom to make decisions affecting their community.

Ugwu and Ugwuja (2016) identify and discuss certain key roles played by the LGs. According to the erudite authors, fundamentally, the local government is aimed at:

Promoting participatory democracy at the grassroots;

Mobilizing local reserves for rapid social and economic development;

Providing certain basic amenities and services at the rural areas;

 Encouraging initiative, and leadership potential in managing local affairs;

Development of agriculture and natural resources other than the exploitation of mineral;

Provision and maintenance of primary adult and vocational education;

Decentralizing political power and institutionalizing co-operative federalism.

The above, according to them, could be summarized into two major sectors. LGs perform two key roles in the system; political and socio-economic roles.

Political Roles: The principal issue here is that of democratization. LG’s political role is to serve as an instrument for promoting local democracy. The LG is well placed to mobilize the people politically through political education, political participative interaction, enlightenment and actions. LGs have become useful democratic platforms for electing leaders at the grassroots levels of government. Furthermore, leaders who get elected at local levels and serve as representatives of the people in the LG council are prepared through such experience for higher responsibilities. LG is therefore a training ground for politicians and leaders. Such training includes that of representativeness and political accountability. Another political role is that provision of Law and Order. LG work with the police, other security agencies and traditional rulers to enforce law and maintain security in rural areas. Moreover to enhance responsive governance, LG serves as two-way channel of communication between the government and the governed. Just as it transmits the decision of government to the local people, it also coveys the demands or feedback from the local people to governments.

Socio-Economic Roles: The exercise of democracy and human rights can only be meaningful if demands and policies can be translated into physical development including the provision of basic socio-economic services. Such services are expressed in the functions of LG which include basic health, basic education, agriculture and revenue generation. People expect such services to be delivered to make any meaning of democracy and bureaucracy at the local level. It should be noted that in providing such services, LGs have to work with community groups and citizenry to harness community energies as inputs into development. In LG therefore, there can be a totally government-initiated development, a joint exercise with the community and completely community-initiated self-help projects.

We submit that one practical way by which the LGs are enabled to perform their political and socio-economic roles efficiently is through navigating the various functions delineated in the Constitution.

By the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution (pursuant to Section 7 thereof), LGs are charged with certain responsibilities and functions. Thus:

The main functions of a local government council are as follows: the consideration and the making of recommendations to a State commission on economic planning or any similar body on –

the economic development of the State, particularly in so far as the areas of authority of the council and of the State are affected, and

proposals made by the said commission or body;

collection of rates, radio and television licences;

establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm;

licensing of bicycles, trucks (other than mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts;

establishment, maintenance and regulation of slaughter houses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks and public conveniences;

construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains and other public highways, parks, gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a State;

naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses;

provision and maintenance of public conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal;

registration of all births, deaths and marriages;

assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State; and

control and regulation of – out-door advertising and hoarding,

movement and keeping of pets of all description,

shops and kiosks,

restaurants, bakeries and other places for sale of food to the public,

laundries, and

licensing, regulation and control of the sale of liquor.

The functions of a local government council shall include participation of such council in the Government of a State as respects the following matters –

the provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education;

the development of agriculture and natural resources, other than the exploitation of materials

the provision and maintenance of health services; and

such other functions as may be conferred on a local government council by the House of Assembly of the State.

A typical political leader in Africa tends to wear his tribal identity like a badge of honour. Leadership synergy then becomes a virtual impossibility when a leader from a particular political extraction is unable to see eye to eye with another leader from another extraction with the same political community. In multi-ethnic geopolitical expressions which most states in Nigeria fall into, this ought not so to be. For any meaningful grassroots development to take place at the state and local government level, both the governor and local government chairmen, once elected by the people (whether voted by a particular group or not) should learn to be detribalized; develop a large heart and pursue the greater good and prosperity for all.

Fluidity of Partisan Ideologies: In a multi-party system like ours were indiscriminate defections from one political party to another for egoistic rather that ideological interests characterize the modus operandi of politicians, there is bound to be lack of cohesion, lack of solid ideological continuity in political programmes and projects, etc.

Godfatherism, Ego and Power Tussle: It is not uncommon to witness the clash of political egos. This may be between a political godfather and godson. The former wants to have his way. The latter would rather not have it so. One vows to make the polity ungovernable for the other, apparently forgetting that it’s not all about the leader but the people. So go as far as sponsoring banditry and terrorism. And so, while the battle of egos rages between the two titanic elephants, the grass below suffers the pounding of the great hoofs! What’s more? Development at both the State and grassroots/local levels suffers. Grassroots democracy is run aground.

 Leadership Incompetence: Leadership synergy would be hard where people who lack the basic leadership skills find their way to power. It is not unusual to find individuals who have virtually zilch leadership experience at any level to find their way to the corridors of political power. Because they lack the requisite leadership skills and capacity, they find it difficult to synergize with others to build a team.

Propaganda & Campaign of Calumny: The rather infantile behaviour by which political opponents deploy the use of propaganda and smear media campaign, hauling unprintable written and verbal muck at each other unfortunately have become the trademark and stock-in-trade of most politicians in Nigeria. They constantly engage in brutal winner-take-it-all, dog-eat-dog campaigns. They criminalize dissent, demonize political disagreements and do a lot of partisan witch-hunt, completely relegating the interest of the people to the background. How then can there be sustainable leadership synergy between a State governor and other leaders and local government chairmen/leaders that could strengthen statewide as well as grassroots democracy and development?

Lack of Autonomy: For a long while, the problem of lack of autonomy among LGAs on account of interference by State Governments was the order of the day. There has continued therefore to be leadership tussles and clashes between the State and LGs. In addition to withholding funds, some State Governors have unconstitutionally removed democratically elected Local Government Chairmen and replaced them with “Caretaker Committee Chairmen” who are often more accountable to the Governors than to the local populace. This undermines democratic governance and severely disrupts the functioning of Local Governments. Consequently, many of Nigeria’s 774 Local Governments have been rendered ineffective, failing to serve their communities and fulfill their intended roles.

For the past two decades, funds allocated to States of the Federation (“States”) and Local Governments from the Federation Account are deposited into a joint account intended for both levels of government. According to Section 162 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (the “Constitution”), each Local Government is supposed to receive its rightful share from this account. However, many State Governors have deviated from this system by either withholding these funds entirely or disbursing only a portion. This practice has caused significant hardship for citizens who are deprived of the benefits and services that democracy at the grassroots level should provide.

In a landmark decision delivered by the Supreme Court of Nigeria (“the Apex Court”) on July 11, 2024, in the case of Attorney General of the Federation v. Attorney General of Abia State & 35 Ors (the “Decision”), the Court reinforced the autonomy of Local Governments in Nigeria, affirming their status as a distinct third tier of government. This significant judgment addressed crucial constitutional issues surrounding the financial independence of Local Governments.

The Decision arose from an Originating Summons filed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (“FGN”) through the Attorney General of the Federation (“AGF”). The Originating Summons sought to determine several key questions, including whether it was constitutional for State Governors to withhold funds allocated to Local Governments from the Federation Account, and whether Local Governments are entitled to direct payments from the Federation Account given the persistent failure of State Governments to disburse these funds. The Decision upheld the principle that Local Governments are constitutionally entitled to receive their share of funds directly, reinforcing their financial autonomy and independent role within Nigeria\’s federal structure.

In its considered and purposive decision, the Court upheld the arguments presented by the AGF and concluded that:

the retention and use of funds allocated to Local Governments from the Federation Account by State Governments is both unconstitutional and illegal and contravenes the principles intended to ensure that these funds benefit the Local Governments directly;

the FGN has the authority to make direct payments of allocations to Local Governments from the Federation Account, but these payments can also be made through State Governments, provided that the funds are fully and promptly transferred to the Local Governments;

under Section 7(1) of the Constitution, Local Governments are recognized as the third tier of Government and the leadership of Local Governments must be independent and democratically elected.

In response to the Defendants argument—presented by the Attorneys General of the States—that Section 162(5) of the Constitution mandates that funds from the Federation Account be paid to States for the benefit of Local Governments, the Court applied a purposive interpretation of this provision. The Court reasoned that the fundamental aim of the law is to ensure that funds allocated to Local Governments reach them. By applying the mischief rule of interpretation, the Court considered historical constitutional provisions that allowed direct payments to Local Governments from the Federation Account. It also noted that the shift in practice, as seen in the current Constitution, was intended to address logistical challenges and reduce the costs associated with Local Government officials traveling to Abuja for fund collection.

In light of its reasoning, the Court directed the FGN to ensure that funds allocated to Local Governments are paid directly into the accounts of democratically elected Local Government Councils. The Decision underscores the necessity of preserving the financial autonomy and operational effectiveness of Local Governments within Nigeria’s federal structure.

A.   Direct Payment from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (“FAAC”)

The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (“RMAFC”) is the federal agency responsible for overseeing the revenues accruing to the Federation Account and ensuring their equitable