The traditional ruler of Lagos Mainland Local Government, High Chief Kehinde Kalejaiye, has called on the federal and state governments to grant full autonomy to local council authorities in governance and administration at the community level.
He noted that financial autonomy alone is insufficient for local councils.
According to Kalejaiye, it is essential to give local government councils the constitutional freedom to function and fulfill all their responsibilities under the residual list, without interference from state governments.
He argued that such autonomy is critical to improving the lives of people at the grassroots level.
Kalejaiye expressed this view in his Independence Day message to Nigerians on October 1.
He emphasised that true independence would only
be achieved when state governments refrain from interfering in the governance and operations of local councils.
He further stressed the need to recognize local governments as an independent tier of government with specific constitutional responsibilities, rather than treating them as extensions of state governments.
These responsibilities, he explained, include enforcing safety regulations, providing various community services, overseeing local markets, protecting the environment, and managing chieftaincy affairs.
Kalejaiye however alleged that the safety regulation and monitoring roles of the local council administration have been hijacked and taken over by the state government thereby making council administration redundant and leaving the constituents including traditional rulers and community leaders neglected by officials of state agencies for services that can be rendered at the local level.
As Nigeria makes her 64th independence anniversary, however, he appealed to the federal and state governments to address these concerns and grant local councils absolute control over their affairs particularly on administration and community governance and implementation of safety regulation.
According to him, the state can only interfere when local councils are going overboard, without this, he said, they should be left to control their affairs.
Addressing this, he observed, would make local government areas more effective and efficient in the delivery of their constitutionally assigned responsibilities to the people at the grassroots.
He said: “The local government authorities are the closest to the people at the grassroots but their impacts are not felt by the people. This is because the state government has hijacked almost all the responsibilities of local government areas.
“The interference of the State in monitoring and enforcement of policies and safety regulations at the local level is adversely affecting development at the grassroots. For instance, in every local government, there is the environmental department that is responsible for monitoring markets and safety regulations but you’ll see officials from the state discharging their responsibilities. This makes them redundant.
“One of the roles of the local council is monitoring and enforcement of safety regulations. This is about ensuring the safety of lives and properties in the district. It also includes ensuring compliance with building regulations and environmental laws.
He further stated: “Many developers now violate the state’s building regulations. They no longer observe the setback between the building and property boundary, drainage channels, and the right of way of infrastructure facilities. When officials of the State Building Control Agency visit an inspection of the facility, nothing is done to correct this violation because most time they are compromised.
“Meanwhile, enforcement of the setback and the Right of Way is very essential in ensuring the safety of the constituents. But this all-important safety rule can be effectively implemented by the local council if they could be empowered in that regard. We have seen cases of building collapse and blockade of drainage channels which subsequently causes erosion and flooding. All these could be avoided with effective implementation of the safety code by officials of the local council authorities.
“This is important to avoid building illegal structures that do not conform to urban planning rules. I therefore appeal to the state government to empower the local government authorities to be responsible for enforcing and monitoring safety standards across their districts and not leave this critical task to State Building Control Agency officials.
“By the dictates of the constitution, local governments are responsible for public safety services, which play a crucial role in ensuring the safety and security of residents daily. So, I am appealing to the state government to consider this important aspect of public safety for independence and national prosperity.”
