{"id":463609,"date":"2011-07-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-19T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/19\/assessing-the-relevance-of-local-government-administration\/"},"modified":"2011-07-19T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-19T06:00:00","slug":"assessing-the-relevance-of-local-government-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/assessing-the-relevance-of-local-government-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing the relevance of local government administration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n<\/p>\n

Issues relating to the relevance of local councils in the country were discussed by speakers at the third Wole Soyinka lecture series organised to commemorate the 77th birthday of the Nobel laureate in Lagos on Wednesday, GBENGA ADENIJI reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

For some literati, the third Wole Soyinka Lecture Series \u2013 sponsored by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and The Orderly Society Trust \u2013 despite its lecture title would interrogate works of the acclaimed playwright. But as it turned out, guests were taken on a voyage into the political history of the country by the speakers who assessed the relevance of the activities of local governments in Nigeria.<\/span><\/p>\n

The guest lecturer and Director, United Nations Institute for Economic Development and Planning, Dakar, Senegal, Prof. Bayo Olukoshi, set the tone for the lecture in a paper titled, Building Democratic Local Governance in Nigeria: The Imperatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olukoshi, who traced the history of local governance from the colonial period to the present day, stated that one of the dominant themes in the post-colonial agenda of politics and policy-making in Nigeria was the reform of the tier of government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The don said the history of the quest for effective and participatory local governance in Nigeria is as old as the history of political communities before the 1914 amalgamation. He explained that some scholars had identified that Nigerians were yet to enjoy the ideal of a system of local governance which include an integral and substantive part of the social contract that framed the rights, entitlements and privileges, duties and responsibilities of citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

He further listed others to include representative of the citizenry as individuals and communities, participatory in a manner that ensures the active input of the populace in the exercise of policy choices and the making of decisions, and accountable to the citizenry both in the technical and political senses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olukoshi stressed that to come to terms with the crisis of local governance in Nigeria, it would be necessary to re-examine the entire project of post-colonial state and nation-building in order to attain a coherent, clear and comprehensive vision of democracy and development in which the citizen would be at the centre and the community constituting a prime building block.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to him, the need to give more attention to local governance as the bedrock of quest for democratisation can be hinged on some arguments. He enumerated some of them as allowing for deeper grassroots participation in the administration of the affairs of the community; offering a viable and sensible framework for citizens to enjoy the benefits of democracy first hand, including the efficient supply of various socio-economic dividends; and evolving as the primary site through which a new social bargain between the Nigerian state and the citizenry must begin to negotiate.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said further added that the framework on local governance was the question of the combination of tools and methods by which the media might play its role in a robust and effective manner as to contribute to the deepening of the roots of democracy and the extension of its branches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though he noted that it was not an easy question, Olukoshi said there was a broadly shared agreement that the investigative culture and capacity of the media were central to assisting in assuring that systems and processes of governance were not only representative of the citizenry but also accountable and participatory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olukoshi said, \u201cInvestigative journalism is a powerful tool of governance precisely because in holding power accountable and keeping it constantly reminded that sovereignty belongs to the people. It is both a tool of empowerment of the self and others – and a very risky enterprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI submit that no democracy can be considered to be healthy which does not have a robust culture of investigative journalism built into its media landscape. In holding power accountable, investigative journalism also empowers the citizenry, nourishes the public policy process, and complements other forms of citizen action to make the democratic ideal a living, everyday experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The lecturer stated that it was germane for the media to give visibility and voice to local communities through the reporting of their concerns and, where viable, the opening up of opportunities for community journalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another speaker, Dr. Abubakar Momoh, who is a lecturer at the department of Political Science, Lagos State University, in a paper titled, Participatory Democracy and Political Accountability, said that because many local government chairmen were products of the godfather syndrome.<\/span><\/p>\n

He submitted that council bosses cannot formulate people-centred policies, which he said, was accountable for why people could not go near them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Momoh said, \u2018\u2018When election approaches, they go to their godfathers to assist them in rigging. They believe more in their godfathers than in the electorate. The people are disenfranchised and alienated from the political process.<\/span><\/p>\n

Local governments are treated with utter disrespect, disdain and insensitivity by state governors and the Federal Government. Their strategic role in social and economic development at the local level is not appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSimilarly, many local government chairmen, merely view their positions as that of regular disbursement of public money to state governors, traditional rulers, political mentors, their so-called godfathers and\/or patrons\/hangers on. Hence, all forms of development that ever take place at the local level often come from either the state or FG.\u2019\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

He concluded that the major problem confronting that tier of government was the lack of political will on the part of those who govern.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his response, the chairman of Osodi-Isolo, Mr. Hafez Ipesa-Balogun, who apparently spoke on behalf of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, said apathy from the populace was one of the challenges confronting the local governments.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is inadequate provisions for the local governments in the constitution. There is no fixed or uniformed tenure for chairmen because the councils are under the state governments,\u201d Balogun said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was clear from the views of the speakers and the responses from the audience that local governance in Nigeria is still far from being made appealing to the people.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n

Original post:
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Issues relating to the relevance of local councils in the country were discussed by speakers at the third Wole Soyinka lecture series organised to commemorate the 77th birthday of the Nobel laureate in Lagos on Wednesday, GBENGA ADENIJI reports. For some literati, the third Wole Soyinka Lecture Series \u2013 sponsored by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and The Orderly Society Trust \u2013 despite its lecture title would interrogate works of the acclaimed playwright. But as it turned out, guests were taken on a voyage into the political history of the country by the speakers who assessed the relevance of the activities of local governments in Nigeria. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-463609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nAssessing the relevance of local government administration - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/19\/assessing-the-relevance-of-local-government-administration\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Assessing the relevance of local government administration - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Issues relating to the relevance of local councils in the country were discussed by speakers at the third Wole Soyinka lecture series organised to commemorate the 77th birthday of the Nobel laureate in Lagos on Wednesday, GBENGA ADENIJI reports. 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