Jantabo's Exemplary Leadership.
Local Governments as the third tier of government is the closet to the grassroot and also is the most neglected, it has become a siphon avenue for corrupt persons and government officials.
This has not augur well for developmental strides to be achieved in the grassroot ,a lot of complains has been made that issues of local administration in Nigeria has to do with lack of fund and independence, but in instances where they are available, they are been abused by the heads of the local government councils.
Local Governments in Nigeria ideally should be the first point of developmental strides ,they are to be the backbone of development in Nigeria, it is the continuous underdevelopment in rural areas that is causing the high rise of migration from rural areas to urban areas ,when the rural area has a relative development, we won't be having population explosion in the urban area.
Some of the reforms by various governments which has yielded little or no result has made alot of us to start questioning if local governments are still viable in the country ,in my own view ,they are still needed ,they are still important to our national growth ,they only need to be strengthen, the heads of the councils should be more accountable to their people ,leaders with grassroot background should be chosen, the ones with grassroot backgrounds are in tandem with realities and problems the people in the local area are facing ,this will easily help the leaders to fashion out solutions to the problems easily as they already know the root of the problems.
As stated earlier, corruption is the major problem facing the local government administration, it is in the light of this ugly monster call corruption that made state government to take disciplinary action against some council chairmen in the state .
Following public outcry over inability of the local government areas to pay salaries despite the bail out by the state government and a seemingly improved allocation and IGR .
In the past ,the state took this decision after handing over the local governments the financial autonomy to operate ,it was found out that ,some of the council boss are involved in financial recklessness, and impunity at the grassroot and the need to put a stop to it ,necessitated the setting up of the panel.
With the above, one can conclude that most times ,it is the the undoing of the council bosses that are causing untold hardship to the people at the grassroot, In Niger State ,the Governor gave the local governments the financial autonomy but unfortunately it is been abused by the council chairmen, now ,the question on everyone lips is ,is the mismanagement been caused at local governments caused by the kind of people we elect as our chairmen or is it the system? ,both are wrong and there is need to checkmate the entire system of local government administration and the proces of choosing the leaders.
There are alot of local government chairmen that are performing well,some ,even with the limited resources, they are bringing developmental strides to their people .Lapai Local Government chairman in Niger State ,Hon Mu'azu Hamidu Jantabo has projects completed and on going in each of the wards of the local government, this he has been able to achieved by utilising the meagre resource at the disposal of the council ,he has also make sure staff salaries are paid at when due.He is among the few council chairmen that does not owe staff salaries .
There are alot of council chairmen like Hon Jantabo that are doing fine and need to be encouraged for a better performance.
As much as we want more power to be given to local government to be independent, to oversees it staff ,to have financial powers in order to execute projects and complement the efforts of other arms of the government, we should bear in mind ,that there is need for proper check and balance of the activities of local governments in Nigeria.
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