It is heart-soothing that the new governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has hit the ground running since assuming office. He is striking the iron when it is still hot. He has since removed Local Government Council Interim Management Committees (IMCs) and all political appointees, a move that has been hailed by observers and political pundits as swift and timely. In a smart move, he has also pruned the number of ministries from 19 to 13 in a bid to run a lean government that will save cost of governance. All these followed the submission of findings by the APC Transition Committee under the chairmanship of Balarabe Abbas Lawal, the new Secretary to the Government of State.
Lawal had said the findings were stunning, insinuating that the state had suffered maladministration. In his response, the governor assured that no ‘big’ thief will go scot-free. Perhaps what he did not say in specific terms is that there is rot in the 23 local government councils, while expectations are that the Ministry for Local Government will also be subsumed to save cost. It is being retained on the current arrangement.
Of the sub-committees in the Transition Committee, the most complicated and yet crucial perhaps is the Local Government sub-committee because of its work towards cleaning up the rot in governance at the grassroots level. The ‘Accidental Public Servant’ had said that financial autonomy for the 23 LGAs of Kaduna State was on his card. One expected El-Rufai to elaborate further as the question of autonomy for LGAs is a complex one and had been the chorus for years – in government and in academic circles. Experts say it should cover administrative, financial and political in the long run, and the process will undoubtedly include a tumultuous constitutional amendment procedure. It may also require teamwork where Kaduna and other states collaborate.
How the new governor intends to handle this remains to be seen. It suffices to say that the palpable weaknesses of the LGAs have been dragging Kaduna State backward. Yet the place of the LGAs is central to the overall development of the state as shown by their functions: planning, generating revenues, as well as the provision of social services, primary education, health services and agriculture. When their performances are measured by the above-mentioned yardsticks, it could be said that the 23 LGAs are distressed.
Earlier, I felt a sense of relief when El-Rufai selected Suleiman Abdu Kwari to head the sub-committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs. Kwari has an in-depth knowledge on governance and public finance having served as a chairman of the cosmopolitan Sabon Gari LGA, member of the House of Representatives and commissioner of finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He has also jealously guarded his political reputation over the years. So I am sure the submission of the Kwari-led sub-committee will be very rich and reliable in the transformation of the local government system. I hope the findings and recommendations of the Kwari subcommittee will not end in government’s shelf. If the recommendations are implemented, it would unequivocally bring the needed CHANGE in the state.
Beyond rhetoric, El-Rufai must quickly move to ginger the sources of revenue to the LGAs by blocking leakages through staff and revenue audit. The LGAs seem to have an over-bloated workforce of around 20,000 that earn a monthly salary of around N1 billion. This is scandalous!
The way the 46 development areas also guzzle government revenue should also worry the El-Rufai-led government as a little above half a billion is being expended on them annually.
All these are pointers to the fact that the cost of governance at the local level in the state is high and must be normalized without necessarily turning the real people out of jobs, but making them more efficient while motivating them at the same time.
With these failures in the LGAs, one wonders if there is still need for the Ministry for Local Government in the state. They have not justified their existence. Since it is a creation of the law, it could be subsumed under the office of the Secretary to the Government or the Office of Governor to save cost and block leakages.
Another major issue that will require the attention of the new government is budget performance. Over the years the capital performance of the budget has been relegated to the background. The LGAs are witnessing over-bloated recurrent expenditures and overheads.
From the political angle, since the sack of the Interim Management Committee of the Local Government, the government should ensure that it conducts elections as soon as possible and these elections should be carried out with the use of card readers to entrench credibility as it were.
To save cost and create the real change at the local level, one will also advise the government to introduce a semi-parliamentary system where chairmen of an LGA are elected from among the councillors. This will, one, make quality people to run for the councillorship offices and at the same time save cost. The state government should institute a four-year rolling plan while at the same time implementing the Local Economic and Empowerment Development Strategy (LEEDS) as a framework for local government policy and planning. It should also carry out an audit of all joint projects in the past five years.
One also expects El-Rufai to look into the undue influence of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the disbursement of funds and contract awards which is unconstitutional. Outsourcing of revenue collection should be halted. Local government staff should be empowered with the relevant skills to collect revenues. This will further save cost.
Extra-budgetary expenditure to support federal and state MDAs should be looked into as it further stifles LGA finances. Along this line, government should seek to revive ailing companies at the grassroots level. This would create more jobs and in the long run accrue more revenue from taxes to the state and LGAs. The El-Rufai government should also revive the old Saturday sanitation policy and train the sanitary inspectors in order to achieve the desired result.
It is hoped that if the above suggestions are looked into, the state will be better off. This welcome note is my candid contribution to the development of my beloved state, while hoping that Governor El-Rufai will put to use the findings of the Transition Committee.
Jibrin Abubakar
