Former Minister of Education and ambassador, Professor Tunde Adeniran spoke with KUNLE ODEREMI on restructuring vis-à-vis financial autonomy of local government, LG reforms, power devolution, among other national issues: Excerpts:
NIGERIANS are going through a tough time. There is hunger, inflation with the prices of essential goods rising at a geometric proportion. How would you analyse the prevailing situation across the country?
My prayer is that God almighty will make Nigerians rise up and do the needful to make meaning out of it and that people will see the real essence of that judgement. It is a half way measure for now because certain things have to be sorted out. All those concerned, the ordinary citizens, the drivers of local governance, state authorities and of course, the national government will have to take a critical look at it and do what needs to be done to make everything meaningful. In other words, the pronouncement is not enough. There are certain things to make the pronouncement meaningful. In other words, there are certain rules and regulations that will have to go along with it. All those things will have to be in place.
What are the specific things you have in mind?
We will have to look at the Constitution that is on ground now. Are there any contradictions with the essence and the power behind the judicial pronouncement? Reconciling that, the interpretation, so that the operators would know the boundaries; what is permissible now by that pronouncement and what is not; and what steps need to be taken to make sure that things go well. That is one level. The second level, which is very important is that, there is local government autonomy to make the local communities the real third tier of government is there, and the pronouncement has been made, people are generally happy, but then, what about the human capital challenge? The manpower to run such tier of government is not in place as of now. Most of the states, it is the expectation of the local government when it was created, that those who will be running the affairs of local government areas would be retired permanent secretaries, directors; professionals like lawyers, accountants, senior lecturers and those with a lot of experience about that in the management of materials and human resources. Now, we have a situation in which unfortunately the local governments have not been given the opportunity to attract the very best that would be able to run those governments the way they should, which means there will be a need to be a revisit so that those areas where people: political leaders, governors in particular just throw or impose all manner of characters at the local government. It will have to change; it has to stop because those people cannot run the affairs of the local government as it is now, when you have people that have not managed or handled N200, 000 and you are now asking him to manage billions. So, what are the implications?
What should be done now in order to attract the kind of professionals that can run the local governments in the country?
Thank you very much. The various communities will have to wake up and know that this idea of local government autonomy is not just to bring resources to the local government areas alone; it is also to ensure that it is where real and meaningful development takes place. In other words, community leaders, various societies, associations will have to wake up and make sure that they determine who will be in charge of those resources; who will govern them. In other words, it goes beyond just allowing anybody to impose any character on them. The community leaders, associations and others will have to search very well for experienced people, competent individuals, professionals, who will be able to run the affairs of their communities and encourage them to contest and vie for the leadership of local government and become chairmen, councillors, and so on. This is very important. They cannot just fold their hands and it should not be looked at as if it is a party man affair. The government chairman at that level should be one that should be respected, who will to be able to come in on nonpartisan basis; who will be able to, whatever their political leanings, must put the communities first and work hard to ensure that governance is, at that level, meaningful. In other words, diligence, transparency, efficiency, will have to do things that will transform the communities. It is not just a question of payment of local government workers and that of teachers, no! Physical development will have to come to the local government area and it should not to be expected that they are going to be relying on allocations that will be coming to local governments alone. They also will have to think; they have to be innovative; think about how best to generate internal resources in terms of revenue’ it has to be generated for local development. It is a real challenge that must be taken seriously.
Given the current party arrangement in the country, to what extent do you think such ideal local government administration can be realised or attained? Money now plays a dominant role in party politics in the land.
Well, nothing can be realised with ease in an environment in which people always look for easy way out. What it calls for is that you have to struggle; struggle between forces that want development and forces that do not want it (forces that want the status quo to remain). So, it is not going to be an easy thing. But then, if we want development; if we want to transform society, we have to be ready; we have to be battle-ready in other to achieve it.
Some individuals, among them governors as well as pressure groups argue that the judgement of the Supreme Court granting autonomy to the local government runs against the existing federal arrangement in the country. What can you say in that regard given your professional background and wealth of experience?
My expectation is that we should go and restructure this country and in restructuring, we do not put much power at the centre. In other words, this could be a beginning of greater restructuring to take place. It is not a question of people saying, ‘ok, we want to empower the local government; that local government would now be the federating unit.’ No, this is an issue that will have to be looked into. Of course, you decentralize by ensuring that more powers also go to the states. The List of items in the Constitution to be handled by states will have to increase. What the Federal Government is handling now in a federal system is not acceptable. That will have to be looked into. Look at issues like mining, and many other items, the Federal Government has to be unbundled so that more will have to be done by those at the state level. The states will have to be independent; the local government will be independent and what the Federal Government will be to handle issues of external relation, national defence affairs and not to be running agriculture and any other things that should be handled at the state and local government levels.
What about the argument that the LG can now heave a sigh of relief following the Supreme Court judgement on financial autonomy because governors had been suffocating them?
My reading of the rhythm is that the local government running is that they will have more revenue, will have more latitude to ensure development at that local level so that where some states claim that they do not tamper with local government resources, whatever the situation, at least, in a law and practice, local government will now be local government so that they wouldn’t be any excuse for preventing those local government areas from their exercising the powers and privileges.
But even with this (LG autonomy), states still have the power to determine who becomes chairman and councillors?
Like I said, that is opening a new chapter, which will have to be contested above the partisan level and the nonpartisan level. I believe in the final analysis, it will depend much on how communities take it. If they are nonchalant about it, if they allow imposition of all manner of characters, then it is left to them. It is left for them to the determination of their own destiny or their own fate. In other words, the challenge now is for local communities to think of what to make out of that pronouncement.
Why do you think we have been going through a vicious circle in local government administration despite the various LG reforms carried out in the past decades?
Reforms are carried out by human being. The attitude of Nigerians to the reform will have to change because you have to think of the people first; you have to think of the community first. It should not be with the mentality to manipulate for personal gain. You have to think about tomorrow; that’s the way forward; you have think of the coming generation; you have to think of those who are meant to benefit; whose future are at stake.
But, why do you think it has been difficult for us to build strong institutions you have highlighted but instead promoting strong personalities?
The problems are many but two are important in this regard. One, the constitution we run is a very terrible one that gives room for that. So, that is why it has not been a people’s constitution. It has not been the type that could really give us the type of society that we really deserve. The second is the orientation of the people running it. No matter how bad a constitution is if you have people who are public spirited; who are selfless, who have the interest of the people in mind and whose ideology is for the betterment of the society for the good of the common man and all that, the result will be different. But when you have people who are self-seeking and self-serving, then of course, you get what we have on ground. So, it makes the constitution ready for manipulation by those who will exploit it for personal advantages. So much has to be done in that regard. That is why the call for a new constitution for Nigeria. Secondly, our people need new orientation. Our ideological orientation is nothing to write home about right now. We are selfish and anti-people, which should not be. And unless and until we think more about the ordinary Nigerian, about the common man, we are not going to get to where we need to get to. We need to take a serious look at that. We need to think about the common man, the wellbeing of Nigerians and when we do that and we get into changing our values, the things we pursue now are not good things that will be build a society that will be edifying for Nigeria. We are too materialistic; instead of competing to contribute to build a legacy for the coming generation; a legacy of a society where everybody will be proud to live in, where you will be proud you are a Nigerian, where you feel that your future is guaranteed, instead of thinking of collective, wellbeing to a collective goal, collective interest, we are thinking of self, individual interest and that is not how to build a nation.
What would be your advice to the country at this critical stage in its history?
Every Nigerian should see the period as a challenge and be creative. We should think seriously about our values that have been abandoned. And of course, government too should be more creative on how to meet those challenges. I see it as a challenge to all of us, to individuals and those in government. I believe that God gave us the resources in this country more than any other country you can imagine and we have no reason to be hungry. So, we have to go back to why is it that we are where we are now? Why are the farmers not on the farm? Why is so much insecurity? What are we doing to bring about security because with security, the farmers will be able to go to their farm? There will be food and people will do things without fear. There is a lot of challenge that I believe we all have to face. I also believe that the security architecture will be such that it will be community based, locally based. People must wake up and know that their security and their future is also in their hands. A lot still has to be done at the local level; at the community level. What the government needs to done at the state level is done at the state level and of course, those that have to be done at the national level are done at the national level.
We should put the nation and the community first; the future first so that when we do that we will steps that would be to the creation of better institutions, very strong institutions because the people that are there today, may not be the ones that would there tomorrow so that we create institutions such that no matter is there, those institutions will run well to the benefit of the community; to the benefit of the people so that we do not think of today when we are in a position to dictate, determine and use the structure on ground just to advance our personal interests and goals. We should think of the structures that would be good for development for the creation of a better society to improve the quality of life of the people, to bring development to the people; the welfare, the wellbeing of the people to their taste.
There was time we talked about brain drain syndrome. What has suddenly become in vogue is the Japa syndrome, the idea of people migrating to the United States, the West and other developed countries, especially skilled professionals to seek greener pasture. What can be done to arrest the trend? What really went wrong such that we are beset with the trend in the first instance?
When you make the country attractive, people will stay. Create an enabling environment; encourage our people to stay, then, they will stay. The orientation is also one thing. The second thing is that the challenges that make some people go out is the environment. If the environment is conducive enough, they will not leave. Of course, there are also those who leave, when we talk about the orientation, there are also those who leave who do not have the competence. Some people leave because they have the professions to sell; they want to add value to whatever is there, which probably they do not have in other opportunities here. So, it could turn out to be brain gain in the final analysis because they go there to add value to what is there. So, they take something back home. But then, there are those who go to add nothing whatsoever out there. They only go out to suffer and many perish on the Mediterranean Sea and so on and many are languishing where they go to because there is really nothing to offer; that is a dent on our image. So, it is a multidimensional issue that we should not just write off; we should just feel that ok, this is the greener pasture people say they are running to. The pasture is greener in some places; there are some places where it is not available for some of those are going there, who will do much better back home in Nigeria. But the bottom line is this: let us work harder; make Nigeria as attractive as it used to be in the past and people will stay here and other people will even be coming here. We should encourage them.
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