By Abiodun Komolafe
It’s no longer news that some 31 Local
Council Development Areas (LCDAs), 3 Area
Councils and two Administrative Offices were recently created in Osun State by the Rauf Aregbesola-led administration. As
Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the Bola Tinubu-led administration
when Lagos State
had its LCDA experience, one can safely state that Aregbesola has garnered
experience sufficient enough to help him drive the newly-created lower-tier
administrative units in Osun
State .
At a period of global financial failure like this, fears
on the part of the people cannot be said to be misplaced. It is therefore
comforting to know that the governor has assured Osunians that the new councils
were created primarily to bring "development to the people", manage
"the markets", and generate "more revenues, amongst
others." Good also that he has allayed the fears of human and material
resources with which to power the third tier of the administrative structure,
taking into consideration the socio-economic and geo-political realities on
ground in the country. With these additional administrative council areas in
place, one expects that local government administration will be brought nearer
to the people.
Again, while not conceding its comparative edge in
administrative purposes over the building of a pattern of dominance, it will
also go a long way in removing some of the inconsistencies and confusions
associated with local government administration. And, since the system is
participatory in nature, opportunities for broadening the potential for
societal capacity building, accountability, transparency and openness cannot be
overlooked. Above all, the glorious roles of our traditional rulers as the
embodiment and custodians of their community's customs and traditions, which
successive constitutions have tragically failed to appropriately clarify, will
by this laudable step become enhanced.
However, beyond the politics and emotions usually
associated with great ideas like this, the question before careful political
observers is: has the governor breached any law of the land by creating these
lower administrative centres? In my unlearned estimation, the 'inchoate'
judicial pronouncement of the Supreme Court in the case of Attorney General of
Lagos State v Attorney General of the Federation (2004) 20 NSCQLR 90 on the
operation of Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State and, by
extension, Nigeria has settled that! This is even as Nigerians are of the view
that the refusal by the National Assembly to do the needful as required by law
tends more towards the political than the
altruistic.
I have commented in one of my previous interventions that
being a governor and a paymaster is a matter of choice. Without doubt, each has
its rewards. But it depends on how one wishes to live and be remembered! Harvey
Firestone put it beautifully when he wrote: "The growth and development of
people is the highest calling of leadership." Needless to repeat that
Aregbesola has opted for the noble path of serving his people with all of his
might and has so far discharged his responsibilities creditably. Essentially,
while the benefits derivable from the governor's action should not be lost on
Nigerians, kudos must be given to the government that has, in spite of all
odds, been struggling to meet the demands of its people, especially at a time
when what comes into the state's coffers from the Federation Account is not
even enough to pay for 20% of the state's workforce.
Progressive-centric propensity notwithstanding, sentiments
and emotions are essential ingredients of politics. So,
how long is an 'inchoate' journey of Local Government creation and who
do we blame for the fate of Lagos
State ? why are we our own
enemies and where are those powers that are using the
good things of life to deny the South its pride of place in Nigeria ? Even,
if our fathers have eaten sour grapes, for how long shall the faults and evil
propensities of the parents, not only transferred to the children, but also
punished in them? Where are the popular superstitionists and perennial deal-fixers who are using the good
things of life to curse us in the South? In like manner, where are the
professional pacifists who see and take Osun State
as a gorgeous hall and concert room where sorrows are carelessly danced away? As a matter of fact, who would
ever have thought that the road linking Ijebu-Jesa with Ijeda-Ijesa which had
become impassable to motorists since the early 1980s would take more than two
decades to fix?
Olusegun Obasanjo spent eight years as Nigeria 's
president but ended up as the worst enemy of the South. Goodluck Jonathan,
another victim of good luck, spent six years without caring a hoot about
righting the wrongs of his lord and
master. Ernest Shonekan who, from all
indications, was only anointed for snail and tortoise assault on our psyche did
not even stay long in office to fulfill his pseudo-democracy destiny.
Come to think of it, close to threescore years after
independence, Nigeria
remains a strange nomenclature mendaciously concocted by her colonial
manipulators. Like a barber's chair, motioning perpetually without any
monumental movement, dear country is fast becoming a disintegrating enclave, a
culture of discordant policies and a hutment
of prosperity in a quicksand of adversity; nothing but a game of dubious
smartness, or smart dubiousness. Little wonder every shed and hamlet in the
North is shredded as Local Government Areas while towns, even cities in the
South are falsely lumped together as one Local Government. For instance, I observed
during my national youth assignment in 1997 that what constituted Talata Mafara
and Bakura Local Government Areas in Zamfara
State hardly extended
beyond Talata Mafara and Bakura townships and I doubt if the situation has
changed.
A country without values has no future. What more?
Democracy allows for openness and inclusiveness. In other words, while it may
be difficult to have a proper grasp of the nature, structure and texture of
political patterns and trends without
understanding her colonial legacies, it is only when the vestiges of inherited
colonial structures and legacies are exorcised that an independent Nigeria can
become truly redirected along the principles of justice, efficiency, equal
opportunity and "freedom in socio-political relationships." Stated in
clear terms therefore, if creation of LCDAs is at a time like this in the
history of Nigeria capable of meeting the governance and development needs of
the people, what stops Aregbesola from acting in the interest of his people?
May powers, assigned to rubbish our founding fathers' efforts,
backfire!
*KOMOLAFE
writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State ,
Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)
No comments:
Post a Comment