CYRIL MBAH , Abuja
An anti-corruption civil society group, the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), which leads the advocacy for Local Government Council (LG) autonomy in the country, has cautioned LG Chairmen against abuse of the autonomy granted them by the Supreme Court.
The caution followed a recent rise in the appointment of special political aides by some LG Chairmen in Kwara and other states across the country.
While reacting to the new practice, the Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), in a statement issued on Sunday and signed by Alhaji AbdulRazaq Olayemi, Deputy Coordinator (Special Duties), described the appointments as “needless, resource-draining, extravagant, and a breach of trust of the citizens.”
The group said that it is shocking, for example that LG chairmen in Kwara have not fulfilled the mandatory requirement of the state Local Government Law No 3 of 2006, requiring them to appoint people into statutory offices of supervisors subject to the approval of councillors, who serve as legislative bodies.
In the statement, ENetSuD noted with dismay, how the LG Chairmen have started creating bogus offices and making needless political appointments like state governors.
“For instance, we have seen recent appointments into newly-created offices like Chief of Staff, Chief Press Secretary, Chief Security Officer, and Special Advisers (Special Duties, Legislative, Women Affairs, Education, Health, Agriculture, Political, Special Needs, New Media, Inter-Community, Fulani, Hausa, Christianity, Islam, among others), in addition to so many personal assistants and media aides.
“We have also noted that so many people were appointed into “project monitoring committee.” Already, the Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq has appointed development officers into each of the LGs in Kwara State, another questionable and needless political appointment into the Kwara Local Government system.
“It is worth noting that all the above appointees are not known to the Kwara State Local Government Law No 3 of 2006. This Law recognizes the LG Executive Committee/Cabinet to comprise only the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Supervisors, and Secretary to the Local Government, while the Director of Personnel Matters and Treasurer may attend to play only an advisory role related to their expertise.
“The Supervisors are empowered by the Law to be closely involved in the management of their respective departments in the LG by (i) serving as the political heads of their departments; (ii) giving directives to the professional heads of their respective departments on general policy issues; (iii) assisting the chairmen to supervise the execution of the LG projects within their departments; and (iv) carrying out such other functions as the Chairman may assign to them from time to time. The statutory functions of the Secretary are also clearly stated in the Law.
“In fact, the number of supervisors that the law allows a LG Chairman to appoint is limited to a maximum of five (5). We are worried that the roles to be performed by the needless aides appointed by LG Chairmen are those that the Supervisors recognized by Law are statutorily supposed to perform. “How the LG Council (Chairmen and their Councilors) abandoned the appointment of Supervisors mandated by Law and prioritized the appointment of needless aides not known to the Law is concerning, disturbing, and calls for close questioning.
“Our analysis of the finances of the LGs in Kwara especially and other state between 2020 – 2023 shows that many of the LGs are bankrupt. Rather than making aggressive efforts to reposition their LGs for viability that will deliver good governance to the citizens, the LG council have instead prioritized extravagant expenditures of paying irrelevant and needless political office holders from the meager resources of the LGs.
“Most of the LGs involved in this shameful practice mostly rely on other LGs to survive, as their annual expenses are always higher than their annual income.
“We advise the LG councils to start addressing problems associated with their solvency rather than wasting public funds on political appointments not known to Law. The appointment of needless aides is an abuse of LG autonomy,” the statement concluded.
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