We debate presidential power while the tier of government closest to the people has been systematically strangled. Bala Mohammed traces how the erosion of Local Government autonomy is the root cause of rural poverty and urban migration.
By: Bala Mohammed
National discourse fixates on Aso Rock. Yet, the most consequential theft of democratic promise is happening quietly at the 774 Local Government Area (LGA) headquarters across Nigeria. Designed by the 1999 Constitution to be the engine of grassroots development, the LGA system has been systematically disabled. State governors have become its overlords, and the result is the abandonment of the Nigerian countryside, fueling insecurity, rural poverty, and unsustainable urban migration.
The Mechanics of Strangulation:
Financial Capture: The most blatant tool is the State-Local Government Joint Account. Despite constitutional provisions, governors routinely hijack Federal Allocation funds meant for LGAs, releasing them piecemeal as patronage or not at all. LGA Chairmen cannot plan or execute meaningful projects without gubernatorial blessing.
Political Emasculation: Many state houses of assembly have passed laws replacing democratically elected LGA officials with appointed CareTaker Committees, loyal solely to the governor. This destroys local accountability; the chairman answers to the governor in the state capital, not to the electorate in the community.
Administrative Overreach: State governments routinely usurp LGA functions—building rural roads, managing primary healthcare centers, overseeing basic education—not as partners but as substitutes, further justifying the seizure of funds and rendering LGAs redundant.
The Devastating Consequences:
The Death of the Rural Economy: With no funds for feeder roads, rural produce rots. With no investment in small-town water schemes or electricity, agro-processing dies. This kills farmgate prices and makes farming untenable, pushing youth toward cities or criminality.
The Urban Implosion: The failure of LGAs to create viable local economies is the primary driver of the chaotic migration into Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt, overwhelming their infrastructure and creating the slums we deplore.
The Security Vacuum: An effective, locally-controlled policing and intelligence structure is impossible when the LGA is bankrupt and powerless. Communities cannot fund local vigilance or basic conflict resolution mechanisms.
The Path to Liberation:
The solution is not complicated, but it requires political will that challenges powerful governors:
Constitutional & Judicial Enforcement: Fully implement the Supreme Court judgments affirming LGA autonomy. Abolish the State Joint Account. Mandate the direct payment of LGA allocations from the Federation Account to each LGA’s exclusive account.
Local Democratic Revival: Insist on nationwide, independently monitored LGA elections. Empower local citizens to hire (elect) and fire their chairmen based on performance.
Define Functions Clearly: A constitutional amendment should clearly delineate LGA functions (e.g., primary healthcare, basic education upkeep, local roads, sanitation) and make them exclusive, not concurrent.
Reviving local government is the single most impactful step we can take to decentralize development, tackle rural poverty, and reduce the pressure on our collapsing cities. Until we free the LGAs, we are merely treating symptoms while the patient—grassroots Nigeria—bleeds out.
Bala Mohammed
(Agricultural Economist)
