By Abdullateef Alagbonsi, Ph.D., LL.B.
The Nigerian public has shown solidarity for the Federal Government on its recent commendable action to settle the long-standing issues associated with the Constitutionally-enshrined Autonomy of Local Governments (LGs) in Nigeria. The Supreme Court has said in its well-celebrated judgment that the LGs are not a subordinate of the State Government but a separate tier of government under our Nigerian Federation. It has also emphasized that the LGs should receive its funds and determine how to spend same without the interference of the State Government.
Governors, in their usual anti-LG autonomy posture, have been devising some backdoor mechanisms to weaken the implementation of this novel judgment. One of them is the Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, who went ahead to be recruiting teachers and health personnel for the LGs even though he knows that the State Government under him will not pay a kobo for these workers’ salaries, but it will solely use the LG funds to pay them. Another is my Erudite Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra state, who has cornered the State Legislature to make a Law that will mandate the LGs in his state to always pay certain amount to the State Government for funding of state obligations (yes, state obligations – see why in the succeeding paragraphs). The examples of Governors with such anti-LG autonomy actions abound, but I will stop there to reduce my texts so as to be as concise as possible. As many citizens are beginning to be confused about the practicability of the Supreme Court judgement on the LG autonomy due to the continued emotional recruitment of public sympathy by these Governors, I have taken an active citizen responsibility to address some issue-specific points arising from the conversation so far. While my article is focused on education, the same position is true for basic healthcare, and thus, my submissions can be extrapolated to this sector as well.
Who is responsible for education: State Government or LGs?
It is worthy of note that education at any level (including primary school) is not provided in the Nigerian Constitution as the main function of the LGs. For clarity, readers can consult item 1 of the Fourth Schedule of the 1999 Constitution where all the main functions of LGs are clearly stated and no mention was made of education at any level. The only part of the 1999 Constitution where education is partly attributed to the LGs is in item 2(a) of the Fourth Schedule that provides that “LGs functions shall include participation in the Government of a State with respect to the provision and maintenance of primary, adult, and vocational education; and health services (note my emphasis on participation)”. Even though the Constitution, in its Section 7(1), has given the States the Powers to make Laws for the establishment, structure, composition, finance, and functions of the LG Councils, Section 7(5) of the Constitution has emphasized that “the functions to be conferred by State Laws on the LG councils shall include those set out in the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. Thus, any state Law giving the sole responsibility of the primary schools to the LGs is unconstitutional, null, and void, and a deliberate attempt to shift the State Government’s responsibility to the LGs, thereby robbing Peter (the LGs) to pay Paul (the state government’s workers).
The Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act 2004 (herein referred to as the UBE Act) was enacted without prejudice to this very important item 2(a) of the 4th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution. For clarity, the UBE Act was never made to attribute the responsibility of any layer of education (either Primary or Junior Secondary School) to only the LGs. To give life to item 2(a) of this 4th Schedule, the UBE Act provides a means by which LGs can participate in the education of the State by creating SUBEB and the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) in its section 12(1) and 13(1) respectively. Section 13(1) of the Act emphasizes that the LGEA should be under the supervision of SUBEB. This is expected as LGEA (of the LGs) is only assisting the SUBEB (of the State Government), as the LGs are constitutionally required to only participate and assist the State Government on educational matters.
I have searched extensively, and I have not seen any part of the Nigerian constitution or the UBE Act that has given the payment of primary or junior secondary school teachers to LGs. The Constitution only allows the LGs to participate in the government activities on primary education. It does not say that the LGs should solely be responsible for the payment of primary school teachers. How the LGs have been given the sole responsibility for the primary education they are expected to merely contribute to has remain a big question that all State Governors in Nigeria must explain within the letters of our Constitution! The worst scenario of this kind of State Government’s interference with LG funds is seen in Kwara state where the LGs are responsible for the payment of all teachers in Primary and Junior Secondary schools. I challenge the Government of Kwara State to refer me to any part of the Constitution or the UBE Act where such responsibility is tied to the LGs. I boldly accuse the Kwara State Government (and any other state government doing same) of fraudulently using LG funds to cater for their own responsibility in violation of the Constitution.
Why are the State governments the only one paying counterpart fund to UBEC, why not LGAs?
The UBE Act, in its Section 1, Part 1, started by making a disclaimer that the Federal Government’s intervention under the Act shall only be an assistance to the State and LGs in Nigeria for the purpose of uniform and qualitative basic education throughout Nigeria. To establish that the intendment of the lawmakers was to make UBEC deal with the LGs separately on the administration (except on financing) of basic education, not through their State Governors, I will highlight some provisions in the UBE Act where the relationships between the UBEC, State and Ls were distinguished:
Section 9 describing the function of UBEC
– Section 9(b) – “UBEC shall receive block grant from the Federal Government and allocate to the States and Local Governments and …”
– Section 9(e) – “UBEC shall collate and prepare periodic master plans, after consultation with the States and Local Governments, and ….”
– Section 9(f) – UBEC shall carryout a personnel audit of teaching and non-teaching staff of all Basic institutions in concert with the State and Local Governments.
Several persons have not had answers to why only the State Governments pay counterpart fund to UBEC, and why the LGs are not required to do same. The answer is simple. The State Government has the main responsibility for education. The LGs are expected to merely contribute to it through their LGEA. The UBE Act has made the SUBEBs the vehicle through which the State Governments receive their matching grants upon payment of counterpart funds (making it an exception to the direct relationship of UBEC with the LGs highlighted earlier because the LGs are not envisaged by the Act to be co-funding education with the States). Section 11, in part III of the UBE Act, provides for the financing of the Universal Basic Education in Nigeria. In its subsection (2), the Act states that “for any State to qualify for the Federal Government block grant …, such State shall contribute not less than 50% of the total cost of projects as its commitment in the execution of the project. Subsection (3) emphasizes that “the administration and disbursement of funds shall be through the SUBEB. There was nowhere in the UBE Act that the LGEAs are required to participate in the funding of Basic education, either for payment of salary or for payment of counterpart fund to access UBEC grant. That the UBE Act involves the LGs in the administration (other than financing) of the Basic Education is because of the contributory role the Constitution requires the LGs to play on Primary education, nothing more! If the State Governors want the assistance of the LGs to contribute certain (financial) percentage of the counterpart fund that the States will pay to UBEC to access the matching grant, this assistance has to be legislated in the State UBE Law pursuant to item 2(a) of the Fourth Schedule of the Nigerian Constitution. This way, the State Assembly can enact a Law requiring the LGs to pay certain percentage (e.g. 30%) to SUBEB account while the State Government also pays certain percentage (e.g. 70%) to the same SUBEB account. The accrued contribution of both the State and the LGs can now be used by the State Government to pay counterpart fund to UBEC for the purpose of accessing matching grant that will be used to uplift basic education in the State. A similar thing can also be done if the State governments want the assistance of the LGs on payment of teachers’ salaries, and this can be achieved by ensuring that any support to be rendered by the respective LGs is towards subsidizing the salary of teacher under that particular LG. For instance, if Baruten LG should support the Kwara State Government on payment of teachers’ salaries, it should be with respect to the teachers within Baruten LG only. Same is applicable to other LGs. These ways, the LGs will be playing the contributory role expected of them pursuant to item 2(a) of the 4th Schedule of the Constitution. This reasoning may inform why Prof. Soludo of Anambra state has worked out such mechanism whereby LGs will pay certain amount to the State purse on monthly basis. While that idea is an acceptable, there are loopholes in its approach and that is a topic for another day.
Who is the parasite and who is helping who between State and LGs?
In year 2020, a huge amount belonging to the LGs in Kwara State was used by the Kwara State Government to pay the salaries and pensions of SUBEB teachers in the Primary and Junior Secondary Schools. I will be specific only on the amounts used for salary for conciseness. The amount and the percentage of the expenditure for each LGA used for payment of Primary and Junior Secondary School teachers’ salaries under SUBEB were: Baruten (₦ 486.6 million, 17.1%), Kaiama (₦423.4 million, 18.5%), Patigi (₦318.1 million, 16.8%), Edu (₦855.4 million, 37.8%), Moro (₦829.7 million, 41.8%), Isin (₦306.1 million, 21.5%), Ekiti (₦239.3 million, 16.8%), Oke-Ero (₦276.5 million, 19.4%), Irepodun (₦858.4 million, 44.8%), Oyun (₦558.9 million, 34.7%), Offa (₦676.9 million, 40.1%), Ifelodun (₦944.2 million, 39.9%), Asa (₦1.18 billion, 52.2%), Ilorin West (₦2.38 billion, 61.1%), Ilorin South (₦1.64 billion, 55.4%), and Ilorin East (₦1.35 billion, 50%). The patterns are similar for other years, but I chose to use only year 2020 as a case study so as not to inundate readers with boring figures.
It is worthy of note that the Kwara State Government paid no kobo as salary of the teachers of Primary and Junior Secondary Schools in Kwara State. It means that the LGs are not actually contributing to the education of primary school as required by the Constitution. The LGs are actually solely responsible for the payment of salaries and pension of these teachers. I believe this is a convincing evidence to show that the State Government is a parasite eating the funds of the LGs. I make no apology to say that the Kwara State Government is a liability on the 16 LGs, rather than the other way that the Governor has always made us to believe. This parasitic relationship is profiting the State Government, and that is why it does not support any form of autonomy for the LGs.
In conclusion, the State governments should admit and face the reality that they are responsible for education and healthcare. The LGs are also required by the Constitution to contribute to these public services. The LGs are only expected to support the States where the States can’t bear the burden alone, not the other way. The Kwara State Government in collaboration with the House of Assembly should immediately initiate steps to fully implement the LG autonomy in Kwara state through amendment of policies and legislations to conform with the current public order.
Written in Kigali, Republic of Rwanda by:
Abdullateef Alagbonsi, Ph.D., LL.B.,
Coordinator, Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD)
info@enetsud.org