Oladipo Oluwole
OpenLife Nigeria reports that a seasoned Public Affairs Analyst and commentator, Mr Oladipo Oluwole, has identified ‘Human Manipulative Tendencies’ as key factor delaying full implementation of Local Government financial autonomy.
In a piece made available to OpenLife, the former local government council scribe reflected on roles played by present and past public office holders that are retrogressive in nature and anti-people in scope.
His thoughts are reproduced below
The media space was agog with the above news story, recently.
I once wrote a piece on the Supreme Court judgement on local government financial autonomy.
I analysed its, inherent, attendant political undertones and confusions therein.
But some politico-ethnocentrically inclined persons initially felt otherwise, just like my earlier piece where I raised issues that would later delay the implementation of the new minimum wage.
The minimun wage issues eventually dragged on for almost two years before implementation.
The pertinent questions to ask ourselves are: Why is every federal government programme laced and tainted with political self-interest?
Why should every federal government policy implementation and failure always set one arm of government against the other including but not limited to local against the state; State against the federal and local government chairmen against the state governors as well as people against the state governments and workers against the governors; north against the south etc?
A politician always does things in anticipation of future elections and political gains while a statesman prepares for future generations welfare and development oriented programmes of action for the generality of the people, indeed.
When workers’ new salaries were not agreed upon, we were made to believe that it was the State Governors that were delaying it.
Information has it that the governors didn’t want to agree and equally didn’t want to pay.
When the agreement was finally reached, many of the State governors eventually went ahead to pay more than the stipulated federal amount of 70k.
This development was rare in the body polity of Nigeria.
Infact, it was the Edo state government that first initiated the 70K minimum wage which was later copied by the federal government.
Instead for the federal government to strengthen federal system and implement holistic restructuring, it is weakening federalism and strengthening unitary system.
Examples abound in federal government initiating primary school curriculum, agricultural engagements; local councils opening accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria in a federal system with a lot of zigzags, peace meals and often policy somersaults in formulations and implementations.
Many people easily forget that we once enjoyed full financial autonomy in the local government between 1999 and 2015 without any hullabaloo and with fantastic projects implementation.
Grassroots dividends of democracy under governors Olusegun Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel of Alliance for Democracy and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP respectively in Ogun State.
The trend manifested in other states of Nigeria using the same 1999 constitution and the local government laws as guide.
However, the trend changed when former Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun came to power under All Progressives Congress, APC of strange bedfellows.
The federal arm of APC of supposedly progressives of the south and the northern Hausa-Fulani oligarchy with the conservative political leanings of former President Buhari’s CPC came into the political space for the purpose of getting power at the center without offering an atom of life changing programme for the masses.
Clearly, the real issues of local government financial autonomy are human greediness, intricacies and deficiencies in implementation, and non adherence to the spirit of the 1999 constitution in relation to the existing local government guidelines, rules and laws without political colouration and human manipulative tendencies.
If the Local government Supreme Court judgement were not politically coloured, with future electoral self-interest and it adhered strictly to the 1999 constitution with the removal of any human manipulation, why the hullabaloo?
Why is the Federal government handicapped? Why can’t the government come up with a seamless implementation by exercising a strong political will and might where necessary?
Is it merely calling a dog a bad name to hang it or just a blame game escape route for policy failure?
I just read the news that the National ALGON body has pledged support for the federal government in the local government dispute, with the Osun state PDP government.
Is that one of the political reasons and gains in the supposedly to be federal government financial autonomy?
Oladipo Oluwole, a public affairs analyst and Social commentator is a former Director of Information and Education, Ogun State. He can be reached via: oladipooluwole21@gmail.com
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