Good governance depends on partnerships

“As we begin to celebrate our sixty-one years as a Nation, we need to be conscious that Nigeria does not start and end with the Federal Government. This country is a great collective where Government at all arms and levels as well as the private sector, and more importantly individuals, have a role to play.”

– The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in his October 1, 2021 Independence Day broadcast.

The President was spot on when he made the statement on the opening paragraph during this year’s Independence Day celebration. To many Nigerians, the President is a letdown for not doing enough to promote their welfare and protect them. To them, the bad road in their neighbourhood, their non-functioning Primary Health Care centre, their not having potable water, their dilapidated community schools, the epileptic power supply to their homes, and non-payment of their wages and salaries as and when due are all blamed on Buhari.

Indeed, many Nigerians do not comprehend how government works or how it is structured. Many do not understand what is called the principle of separation of powers and checks and balances in a democracy. In Political Science, there is David Easton’s System Theory. The theory argues that, politics, like governance, is a system of interdependent variables. In Nigeria, there are three tiers of government namely federal, state and local as well as three arms of government viz. executive, legislature and judiciary. These are interdependent variables that need to work collaboratively, vertically and horizontally.

Vertically speaking, there is separation of powers among the three levels or tiers of government. The 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended, sees to that. It clearly delineates the powers or areas of influence of the federal government from those of the state and local governments. Take for instance, the Constitution in Section 153 talks about establishment of certain federal executive bodies.  It listed 14 of them including the Independent National Electoral Commission, Federal Character Commission, and Code of Conduct Bureau/Tribunal. It also espouses about their composition and powers. Section 197 of the same constitution speaks of the establishment of certain state executive bodies namely state Civil Service Commission, state Independent Electoral Commission and state Judicial Service Commission. It also listed their composition and powers.

As there are Separation of Powers, there is also Checks and Balances on the powers given to each of the commissions. For instance, the appointment by the Federal Civil Service Commission must be in accordance with the federal character principle being oversighted by the Federal Character Commission. The idea behind checks and balances is to ensure that no tier of government or arm of government has absolute powers.

Horizontally speaking, there is separation of powers among the three arms of government namely, the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary. While the legislature makes the law, the executive implements the law while the judiciary interprets the law. In terms of checks and balances, the executive can sponsor laws (bills) for passage by the legislature. More importantly, certain categories of appointments by the President who doubles as the head of the executive arm have to be approved by the Senate. These include ministers, ambassadors and the security chiefs. The legislature also has the powers to oversight the performance of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies which constitute the executive branch. The lawmakers can also probe any of the MDAs that is found wanting.

To further buttress the constitutional power sharing among the three arms of government, there are three legislative lists. They are the Exclusive, Concurrent and Residual. Nigeria’s constitution in the Second Schedule listed 68 broad areas under the Exclusive Legislative List and 30 areas in the Concurrent Legislative List. Whatever is not found in any of these two aforementioned lists belongs to the Residual Legislative list.

It is noteworthy that, as there are three arms of government at the federal level so are they at the State and Local Government levels. While the President have his ministers, Special Advisers and Assistants, the State Governors have their Commissioners, Special Advisers and Special Assistants. Likewise, the Local Government Chairmen in the 774 LGAs have Supervisory Councilors and hordes of aides to assist them.  In terms of lawmaking, while there is National Assembly at the federal level, each of the 36 States have their respective State Houses of Assembly while LGAs have their respective local councils made up of councilors. On the other hand, there are Federal High Court, State High Court and Customary Courts. It should be noted that Marriage certificates are issued by Local Council Marriage Registries.

I have gone to this extent to underscore the complex ways government works vertically and horizontally among the three tiers and three arms of government. It bears being mentioned that the three tiers earn monthly what has been constitutionally approved for each of them. Under the current revenue sharing formula, the Federal Government takes 52.68 per cent, the states bag 26.72 per cent and the local governments, 20.60 per cent with 13 per cent derivation revenue going to the oil producing states.

While it is apt to call out the President for a lacklustre performance, it is equally important to do likewise with the state governors and local government chairmen. The three tiers and three arms get their monthly federal allocations while some even have a lot of resources coming from Internally Generated Revenue. What are they doing with these public funds?

In the Concurrent Legislative List where the federal and state governments can legislate and administer, some of the items there include roads, health care delivery, education, sports, agriculture, elections, etc. For the benefit of the reading public, there are Trunk ‘A’ roads which belong to the Federal Government, Trunk ‘B’ roads which belong to the state governments and Trunk ‘C’ roads which Local Governments are supposed to construct and maintain. How has each of the tiers of government performed in terms of road construction and management? Similarly, in the area of health care delivery, there are Primary Health Centres or dispensaries being constructed and managed by local governments and area councils, there are also general hospitals which are under the auspices of state governments while the Federal University Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres belong to the Federal Government. What is the state of these hospitals across board?

The point here is that there is a need to understand how government works and the spheres of influence of each of the tiers and arms of government. Transparency and accountability should be demanded across all the various governance structures. They all have their powers and functions as well as receive their monthly federal allocations and generate IGRs. What do they do with these huge funds? What, for instance, do the governors do with the humongous funds they receive monthly as security votes? How much of due process do we see in procurement and transparency of contract awards across the tiers and arms of government? How many states and local governments have keyed into the Federal Government’s Freedom of Information and Open Government Partnership Agreements?

If our demand for good governance is not extended to the sub-national levels, the best efforts of the Federal Government will pale into insignificance.