It is no longer news that Oyo state Local Government Chairmen have decided to opt out of the Association of Local Governments in Nigeria, (ALGON).
It is also not news that the reasons behind their actions are as a result of Governor Seyi Makinde’s disapproval of the judgment of the Supreme Court which granted Financial Autonomy for the 774 Local Governments in Nigeria.
Governor Makinde’s position against independence of Local Governments in Nigeria is public knowledge even before he won a second term in office.
He has hinged his antagonism to the current system which recognizes Local Governments as third tier of Government on his belief that Local Governments should be appendages of the States.
According to him, there is nowhere in the world where you have three tiers of Governments in a Federation.
He has made references to some foreign and developed Nations of the world where there are only two tiers of Government in the Federating Units.
Governor Makinde does have some “Alakowes” who share the same views with him.
Unfortunately, however, what Governor Makinde failed to tell us and I think those who share in his views also do not avert their minds to those facts, is the reality that in those developed Nations , where they are using as examples, their Laws are made in a way that not even the president can flout them without facing consequences.
That though, the third tier of Government in such climes are run at the mercy of the State Governors but no state Governor would dare touch the funds meant for that tier of Government.
In such climes, no Governor would dare touch the funds meant for the third tier of Government not to talk of using same as collateral for loans which he will spend at his whims and caprices.
Those who drafted the Nigerian Constitution in the way they drafted it must have had in mind the gluttonic nature of the Nigerian politician.
In the Nations where Governor Makinde and those who share his beliefs make references of, the States Assemblies are not tied to the Aprons of the state Governors and they will act in case of abuse of power by the Governor.
Can we say the same thing about Nigeria?
It is good to talk about too much power being concentrated in the centre.
Are we saying that creating 36 mini monsters would be better than what we currently have?
I think not.
Everyone knows why state Governors want to keep hold of the Local Governments.
It is simply because of the resources of the Local Governments.
Some of us who have held political positions in the Local Governments have first hand knowledge on this matter and no matter the level of Education anyone might possess, he can not fathom even in the slightest, the atrocities that some state Governors commits at that level of Government.
The sentiments about Teachers salaries are just a wool in the eyes of the citizens.
I was Supervisory councilor for Works in Ibarapa East Local Government.
Once the monthly Allocations dropped, the first cheque that the Director of personnel and the Director of Finance would raise is that of salaries and allowances for civil servants, they, themselves being civil servants.
Note, that the Chairman of the Local Government has no business with cheques. He only signs the payment schedules.
So the power to spend the funds is fairly distributed between the civil servants, represented by the Director of personnel and the Director of Finance on the one hand and the Chairman of the Local Government, representing the political interests.
It is after that the Executives of the Local Government headed by the Chairman and including the Director of personnel as secretary, the Director of Works, Director of Finance, the Supervisory councilors and the Secretary to the Local Government will now sit to deliberate on what projects would be done with what was left.
Salaries are first line charges. Under the present circumstance, the Federal Ministry of Finance, in compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court only need to deduct whatever is going to SUBEB from source and that settles it.
Concerning the payment of gratuities and pensions , that should be the responsibilities of the National Union of Local Governments Employees and NULGE.
The NULGE is comprised of seasoned Administrators and Career Officers who, together with ALGON are capable of coming up with a template that will take care of the worries of any doubting Thomases.
To the best of my knowledge, the NULGE is not complaining about the present arrangement. So, why raise dusts where there is none?
I have said it repeatedly, Governor Makinde’s agitations is not borne out of concerns about Teachers salaries and Local Governments employees’ salaries and pensions.
His agitations are as a result of what he has done with the Local Government’s funds since 2019.
He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
Before Governor Makinde could be heard about his agitations against the change in the status quo occassioned by the judgment of the Supreme Court, he should first show the world, with facts and figures, in black and white, what he has done with the over a Trillion Naira he has collected as monthly Allocations for the 33 Local Governments in Oyo state since 2019.
He should come clean and tell the world if he had taken loans with the local Government funds as collateral and where he got the Constitutional authority to do such.
He must tell the world in details, how much each Local Government has collected since he became Governor, how much he released to them and what was done with them.
I must once again remind the 33 Local Government Chairmen who have decided to be clownish in the attempt to escape the judgment of the Supreme Court that they have just been wasting their times and embarrassing themselves.
No matter what names they chose to answer to, as much as they still hold on to the title ” Local Government Chairman”, that Judgment is binding on them till eternity.
This is beyond politics. It is reality. I disagree with the notion that anyone is playing politics with the situation in Oyo state.
The judgment of the Supreme Court affects all the 36 state Governors in Nigeria.
The only reason the Oyo state Governor is consistently in the news is how he has chosen to respond to the judgment.
Governor Makinde wants equity but his hands are obviously dirtied and because of that, he will continue to be in the news.
I must also say that there is nothing wrong in politicians leveraging on the perceived or actual errors of the party in Government.
The act of de-marketing of political opponents is a practice known to and embraced all over the world.
If Governor Makinde did not leverage on the errors of late Governor Ajimobi and amplified on them, he won’t be where he is today.
We were all here when he demonized Ajimobi’s review of the Olubadan Chieftaincy Law to have the support of certain powerful blocs in Ibadan. Even though he has since embraced the said reforms for other reasons.
He equally leveraged on Ajimobi’s inability to pay the wages of civil servants for a period of time to achieve his desire of becoming Governor.
It is normal for opposition political parties to leverage on the errors of Governor Makinde whether anyone likes it or not.
SOLA ABEGUNDE.
