By Nkechi Eze
The call for transparency and accountability in Nigeria’s local government has been a longstanding issue. Recently, the Supreme Court shed light on the tenure of local government chairmen and councilors, establishing that they are entitled to a four-year tenure, aligning with the tenure of executives at other levels of government. This ruling aims to ensure the autonomy of local governments, emphasizing that local government areas are constitutionally recognized as the third tier of government, with guaranteed political and financial independence.
In this context, The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has charged local government Chairmen across the country to take the issue of accountability seriously as they do not have immunity from investigation and prosecution for fraud.
Olukoyede gave the charge in Gombe, Gombe state on Wednesday, February 19, 2025 while speaking at the Gombe State Local Government Summit.
According to a statement signed and made available to newsmen by the commission’s spokesperson Dele Oyewale, Olukoyede pointedly told the local council Chairs to be prudent in the management of huge resources at their disposal stressing that “Local government chairmen do not have immunity and we are not going to wait until you finish your tenure to come after you.”
The EFCC boss decried the stagnation, poverty and deprivation rampant in rural areas across the country in spite of enormous resources that have been deployed to those places over the years.
“The impact of these resources are not felt by the people living in these areas. Councils instead of becoming catalysts of growth, have become caricatures existing only in name”, he said.
To ensure prudent management of resources and accountable stewardship, he recommended to the Chairmen the need to establish a compliance unit to assist them in monitoring the use of resources and the delivery of projects. He informed them that the Commission has established a Fraud Risk Assessment and Control , FRAC, Department, adding that officers of the Department will be visiting local government councils in Gombe state to monitor the use of the expected enhanced receipts from the Federation account. “EFCC will be paying you visits occasionally to monitor how you are using the funds. We will come in the evening. Sometimes you may even be seeing us in your dreams, ” he said
The EFCC boss commended the Gombe State Governor Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa for his shared prosperity vision with council leaderships. “If most governors are like you, I will have less work to do.”
The Chairman of ICPC Musa Adamu Aliyu, expressed dismay that only seven out of the 774 local government councils in Nigeria have websites, which makes it difficult to monitor their expenditures.
In his opening remarks, Governor Inuwa said the Summit was designed to improve the capacity of the Local Government administration in the state to meet the expectation of the people in the light of the new autonomy granted the council. “For autonomy to be beneficial and useful, the councils must have capacity and discipline to utilize their resources for the good of the people.”
He noted that Gombe State was not caught unaware by the Supreme Court ruling as it had already granted financial autonomy to the 11 councils in the state.
