By Innocent Okon
The political firmament in Nigeria has never been this opaque since our flag independence in 1960. The first and second Republics were studded with politicians that exhibited a good measure of charm, charisma and candour. The top-notch delivery of speeches by Tafawa Balewa of the first Republic earned him a sobriquet of “the golden voice of Africa.” His Minister of Finance, Chief Okotie Eboh was always the cynosure of every eye at public events owing to his steeze and showmanship!
In the second Republic, dramatis personae like KO Mbadiwe, Umaru Dikko, Uba Ahmed, Ebenezer Babatope, Abubakar Rimi, Audu Ogbeh and Jim Nwobodo, et al brought so much excitement and interest in the art of politicking.
When Nwobodo and Rimi were not drawing your attention to their good looks, Umaru Dikko would baffle you with a rare display of candour on sensitive national issues!
In 1983, Dikko was quoted as dismissing MKO Abiola’s interest in the Presidential race as a huge joke. He said Allah had already blessed him with much money and his Yoruba race with economic power.
The battle is won, but not the war! Only a matter of time, State Governors shall remind everyone that “WARSAW SAW WAR”!
During the Abacha constitutional confab, it was same Umaru Dikko that shocked the nation with his undisguised opposition to the debate on Resource Control. He posited that Allah gave North the demographic strength, South West the economic power, the East, exceptional entrepreneurial skills, while the Minorities in the South – South received the blessing of oil and gas.
According to him, “instead of the South South advocating for control of Resources exploited from their soil, their leaders should first go for lessons on virtues of self-control before Resource control!
Expectedly, Dikko was taken to the cleaners by many at home and abroad. But truth is always constant.
That confab secured 13% derivation for oil producing states and now, kleptomania has become the directive principle of state policy in most of the oil-bearing states in Nigeria.
As prophesied by Dikko, lack of ‘self control’ in managing the funds flowing from the oil derivation has become the albatross on the necks of many State Governors and politicians in the South- South till date!
The moral in this narrative is that it is advisable for preparation to precede implementation.
Last week, the Supreme court gave judicial imprimatur to the persistent advocacy for financial autonomy to the 774 local governments in Nigeria. Flowing from the judgement is the direct funding of all democratically elected local councils from the Federation Account.
In some quarters, the jubilation is overwhelming. The undisguised interest is in the quantum of money to each local council, but little or no thought is yet given to how this ‘ windfall’ shall be deployed to meet the myriad liabilities of local governments.
The Supreme Court has given the verdict. The battle has been won and lost! But how about the war?
On the heels of the favourable verdict by the Supreme Court, the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi was quoted as urging the National Assembly to give constitutional toga to the judicial decision. Many then wonder which should have been done first! Why was the Chief Law Officer in an indecent haste to take all Governors to court on an issue that constitutional amendment should have been the first option?
Some may say it was a preemptive strike to pull the rug from the feet of state Governors, but must political masterstroke be achieved at the expense of the sanctity of the constitution?
As the implementation of the direct funding of local governments receives judicial nod, the provision ceding the power of control and disbursement of local government funds to Joint Account committees in the 36 states of the Federation is still extant!
Though lawyers would say that one of the definitions of law by one school of thought is that “the law is what the court says it is”, the wish of the Executive at Federal level on this matter could have been more democratically handled through an Executive bill to the National Assembly.
Implementation of the judicial decision has now thrown up confusion and apprehension in the system. If the court order is implemented with immediate effect, many undemocratically installed authorities at the third tier of governance are going to be starved of funds, and the civil servants are going to be the inescapable casualties!
Which agency now takes care of pensions and gratuities of retired staff of the local government system? The constitution domiciles the control and management of Primary schools in the purview of local councils. How long will it take for modalities on the funding of this critical sub-sector to materialise?
In all these political gymnastics now being given adroit coverage of judicial hood, I don’t see state Governors letting go the jugular of local governments.
The constitution permits each state to midwife elected officers for each local government through state run INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL COMMISSION.
My take? The battle is won, but not the war! Only a matter of time, State Governors shall remind everyone that “WARSAW SAW WAR”!
Okon, a journalist and lawyer, lived in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
