Local Government Caretaker Committees in Nigeria and their Effects on Socio-Economic Development

Abstract:

The state governors in Nigeria have manipulated the local government councils in Nigeria to the extent that they appoint their cronies and loyalists as caretaker committee chairmen without regard to the constitutional provisions for democratically elected council chairmen. In all cases, the choice of their appointees is not always the choice and wishes of the local people and the masses at the grassroot always rejected them. The most fundamental problem inherent in caretaker committees of local government council is that caretaker committees are conduit pipes for corruption by the state governors to siphon off local government councils’ finances. The state governors solely or in tandem with their party leaders handpick few individuals viewed as core loyalists to the governors. Local government councils ought to be managed by democratically elected individuals and not the state governors appointing their cronies and loyalists as caretaker committees’ chairmen without regard to the constitutional provisions for democratically elected local government council’s chairmen. Presently in Nigeria, the state governors are truncating the tenure of the democratically elected council officials and replacing them with members of the ruling political party in the state as caretaker committee. We perused at the constitutional provisions for local government councils through the Democratic Participatory Theory. This paper studied carefully the reasons for state governors in Nigeria setting up caretaker committees and the impact of these committees on local government councils in the country. Based on the conducts of the state governors, it was recommended that state governors who fail, neglect and refuse to conduct free and fair elections for local government councils in a state should be prosecuted after their tenures and if found guilty be given maximum capital punishment. This would serve as a deterrent to others in the future, among others.