By: Quadri Yahya

Samuel Gabriel’s plight as a deprived resident of Gbokoto-Isale, in the Yewa-North local government area of Ogun State, made him reflect on God’s intention to have made him and thousands of residents settle in the community. He concluded that God’s plan is innocuous, but the government’s failure to provide basic amenities has adversely affected residents of the communities.

“The residents in the area are going through untold hardships, but they have no choice”, Mr. Gabriel said. “They face health challenges as the lack of a hospital is the most challenging problem confronting the residents of over 40 communities; on the lack of water, many people have been consuming dirty water collected from gutters.”

Residents of numerous communities bordering the Benin Republic suffer lack of healthcare, schools for their children, and portable water, among others. For some of these residents, relocation to the neighbouring country is promising. 

“They have no choice but to cross the border for treatment, and these Benin Republic citizens are devising means to lure Nigerians to their country and make them permanent citizens,” Mr. Gabriel claimed, as he further rationalized that “it is not a sin that God settled us in the border area. What is now a sin being for the government to fail in its responsibility.”

With many of the local governments under the whims and caprices of state government financially and also unable to function independently, people in rural communities are wallowing in abject infrastructural deficits. When government at the grassroots is nonfunctional, communities in the hinterland bear the brunt. In Nigeria, many communities in the 774 local government areas have been neglected. For residents in these localities, the dividend of democracy is far from their doorsteps as the closest tier of government has been ‘captured’ by state governments. While ballot boxes find their way through parlous roads to these communities every election season, basic amenities remain unattainable for residents. But in what seems to be the dawn of a new era for local government, with the affirmation of its financial autonomy by the Supreme Court, is it Uhuru for neglected communities?

The fourth schedule of the Nigeria Constitution of 1999 spells out functions for local government councils, including “provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education; the development of agriculture and natural resources; provision and maintenance of health services and other functions conferred on a local government by the House of Assembly of the State.”

The Constitution also stated the functions of the LG council as including “construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, etc.”

A PLATFROM TIMES investigation shows a stark shortage of basic amenities and a nonfunctional state of local councils across the 137 local government areas in the six South Western states.

In some communities in Ogun State, residents have lived in darkness for more than 10 years, without electricity for a single day and with no hope of intervention from the government at both state and local levels. The residents, even in their penury, took on the difficult responsibility of purchasing a transformer worth 16 million. “We wrote several letters to the state government through the local council, but we were always put in suspense”, Mr. Oluwole Samuel told our reporter during a tour of some of the affected areas under the Ifelodun Joint Community Development Association. Meanwhile, the federal government has been allocating millions of naira for the LGA. Per data from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), the sum of N5.4 million was allocated to the deprived Ifo LGA in May 2024.

SOURCE: NBS/FAAC

Lagos’ LGAs

Daunting reports from Lagos State rural areas revealed the absence of councils in some local communities. The state leads in Cholera cases, yet environmental issues such as flooding, unhygienic slaughterhouses, and poor facilities in markets persist.  According to experts, these problems could be tackled by active governance at the grassroots.

SOURCE: NBS/FAAC

Pockets Of Problems In Osun, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti Rural Communities

The experiences of residents in rural communities in Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti States are similar to those of neglected communities. The roads are a nightmare for residents in Osun communities just as epileptic power supplies have made life hard for residents in some Oyo local areas.

SOURCE: NBS/FAAC

Abdulrosheed Fadipe, an active resident of Osun State, said that LG councils were minimally functional until the state government hijacked them by appointing caretakers. “Our LG thrived quite well back then. At a certain point in time, we have brilliant people at the helm of affairs. But once the autonomy of the LGs was curtailed by the state government… the system became dormant,” he said.

Over the years, portable water has been a dream for residents in Ekiti local area. Year after year, they endure daily lives amidst water scarcity. This is in spite of millions of funds allocated to local government administration in the state.

SOURCE: NBS/FAAC

Reports from Ondo oil-producing communities chronicled the plights of residents suffering from lack of healthcare. Tales of abandoned hospitals amidst disease outbreaks filled the mouths of residents in communities. For them, millions allocated to their LGAs have no significant impact.

SOURCE: NBS/FAAC

LGAs chairmen Share Thoughts On LGA Autonomy

Since the judgment of the apex court on July 11, former and current local government chairmen have shared their views on the financial autonomy granted, with many saying it will solve rural problems if fully implemented. 

Kehinde Olaosebikan, a former chairman of Oluyole LGA in Oyo State said LGAs will witness development as capable individuals will be at the helm of affairs. “As a former local government chairman and a deep-rooted grassroots politician, I want to say that the liberation would go a long way in solving both the festering problems of insecurity and hunger in the country”, he said.

The immediate past Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government Area of Ogun State, Wale Adedayo said the independence of LG is still at the “first leg”. Nevertheless, he said, it will have an impact on “quality people coming on board.”

“For me, if you really believe in service to the people, the best place to do that is at the local level”, Adedayo said in a recent interview with Vanguard. 

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