UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
TOPIC
LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNEMNT COUNCIL, 1991-2003
BY
NWAGBO, RITA ADA PG/M.A/08 49035
AREA OF SPECIALIZATION: POLITICAL HISTORY
SUPERVISOR: PROF. J.O. IJOMA
MAY, 2014 TITLE PAGE
LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCILS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNEMNT COUNCIL, 1991-2003
BY
NWAGBO, RITA ADA PG/M.A/08 49035
A PROJECT REPORT PRESENTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTERS IN POLITICAL HISTORY
MAY, 2014
DEDICATION
To God Almighty, for His love and infinite mercies.
ABSTRACT
Local government is the third tier of government responsible for management of the affairs of the rural people. This tier of government is created to bring development closer to the people. Such development is expected to prevent rural-urban drift of the youths. Among the function of the local government councils in Nigeria are to; provide such basic needs of the people like pipe-borne water, health facilities, roads, schools, cottage industries among others. Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council just like other local Government area Councils is expected to fulfill such functions as enumerated above as the third tier of government. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council bearing in mind the primary functions and obligations of the local government institutions as the third tier of government. Investigation carried out by this study show that Igbo-Eze North Government Council scarcely engaged in road rehabilitation and construction in the period under investigation. The Council achieved very little in terms of rural development, despite the over N1,446,946,853 (N1.4 billion) it received from the Federation Account grants in the period. The study contends that the problem of not performing the statutory obligations lies not in the system but in the operators of the system. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that there is need for total restructuring of the entire socio- political system to ensure that the obligations of the local government are carried out. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project could not have been realized without the combined efforts of several persons. I am particularly grateful to my supervisor Prof.
J. Okoro Ijoma. His mastery of the subject matter and critical supervision have been immensely helpful.
I am also indebted to the entire staff of the Department of History and
International Studies for the positive roles they played in the course of this work. My special thanks go to the Head of Department, Dr. Paul Obiani, Dr
(Mrs) E.N., Uchendu, Prof. Uchenna Anyanwu, Dr. J.O. Ahazuem, Dr. Paul
Obi-Ani, Dr. A.A. Apeh, Dr. C. Opata. It was their constructive criticisms during the proposal defence of this work that defined its focus.
Finally, I am indebted to my family, especially my dear husband Hon.
Kevin Nwagbo, for his zeal in encouraging me to acquire further education.
My gratitude also goes to my brother, Dr. F.M. Onu for providing the enabling environment. Finally, to God Almighty, who by His infinite mercies saw me through this programme.
Rita Ada Nwagbo Department of History and International Studies University of Nigeria, Nsukka
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title Page i Dedication ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Content v
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
Background of the Study 1 Definition of the Concepts 6 Land and People 9 Statement of the Problem 8 Purpose of the Study 9 Significance of the Study 9 Literature Review 10 Scope of the Study 16 Method and Sources 17 Organization 18 Endnotes 20
CHAPTER TWO: LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS THIRD TIER OF GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA 23
Examine Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area before 1991 23 Igbo-Eze Divisional Council, 1954-1957 32 The Creation of Igbo-Eze North Local Government 36 The General Administration/Organizational Structure 37 Organizational Structure of Igbo-Eze North Local Government 41 Endnotes 49
CHAPTER THREE: RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, COUNCIL 1991-2003 49
Education 50 Health 52 Roads 55 Electricity 56 Water Supply 57 Market/Motor Park Development 59 Endnotes 65
CHAPTER FOUR: IMPEDIMENT TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT 67
Endnotes 74
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION
Sources and Bibliography 76
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
The government at the centre becomes meaningful to the people if the activities of local government councils touch the citizens in a positive way.
Local government is the closest unit of the three tiers of government to the people. Historically, development planning in Nigeria dates back to 1946, after the Second World War. This began with the British Ten-Year
Development and Welfare for Nigeria, 1946-1956.1 The Ten-Year Plan and its successor, the Five-Year Plan (1956-1960) did little to improve the lot of the Nigerian rural dwellers.2 The rural areas were denied social services that were essential for rural development. The bulk of the social services went to the cities where the British administrators and “experts” lived.3
Although underdevelopment of the colonies, including Nigeria, is the view commonly shared by scholars such as Walter Rodney, Dupe Olatusun and T. Beinberg, it may be pertinent to state here that there was some semblance of development in some areas of colonial Africa. This semblance can be illustrated by the theory of unintended consequences by Prof. Ali
Mazru who used the theory to explain rural development efforts made by colonial authorities. In the Eastern Region of Nigeria, for instance, the
1 colonial government did set up a “democratic” local government system under the Eastern Region Local Government Ordinance of 1950 for development at the grassroots.
At independence, propelled by the quest for nation-building and the influence of the agriculture, Nigerian leaders set out a development plan.
During this period, development tended to be urban centred to the detriment of the rural areas. The rural areas of the country, the dwelling place of over
70% of the population, did not catch the fancy of the national development policy-makers and policy implementers. Also, the strategic position of rural
Nigeria as the source of the nation’s staple food and industrial raw materials; its prime lands; its advantages in terms of better environmental quality; home of tourist sites and the overall relationship with the urban areas did not attract the attention of national development policy-makers.
But, soon, like the proverbial impatient yam harvester who would not check out the position of a tuber before hurriedly applying the digger and who cuts the tuber in two and then kneels down in search of the missing half. “Nigeria today bends over backwards in frenzied quest to develop its neglected rural regions”.4 State/federal institutions, international agencies, governments and non-governmental organisations are all involved in this plan of developing rural Nigeria. Referring to this new awakening in rural development in Africa, Julius Nyerere, ex-President of Tanzania, averred that “while other nations try to reach the moon, we are trying to reach the village”.5 Before the 1976 local government reform, the Nigerian state passed through institutional process to the evolution of the local government, it was the era of districts, county councils (1954-1991) community council
(1971-1975) latter in 1976 the local government councils.
In Nigeria, the above quest to reach the Nigerian villages, to replace rural poverty with rural prosperity, led to the 1976 Local Government
Reform. By this reform, local governments in Nigeria were made the third tier of governmental activities in the country and charged to govern at the local level and to perform precisely rural development functions and services. Believing that local government held the master-key to rural development and transformation, the policy-makers created a total of 299 local governments for this rural developmental purpose with elected chairmen and supervisory councilors. A total of 774 local governments were created in the country in 1991.
In 1990 the World Bank estimated that about two-thirds of Nigeria’s
88.5 million citizens lived in an estimated 97,000 rural communities. It further said that the lives of the rural dwellers were characterized by
“poverty, misery, morbidity and underemployment”.6 To Robert McNamara, “it is the quickening concern for the poverty of the poorest that has continued to reinforce the priority for rural development”7. Lele and Ndu
Nyako rightly noted that “poverty in Africa is a rural phenomena”8. It may be added that it is also an urban phenomenon. Nevertheless, in the rural areas are found the Nigerian peasantry, the Nigerian poor, Frantz Franon’s typology of “the Wretched of the earth”.9 That is why the local government councils were established to address the problems of rural development of which Igbo-Eze north is one. The Federal Government of Nigeria has set rural development goals for the local governments as the provision of rural health services, rural electricity, feeder roads, and rural water supply. The performance of the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council can be assessed in the above areas.
Although the rural development question has been noted globally, there are yet controversies among policy-makers and academics on the appropriate parameters for rural development. There is also some controversy on what constitutes development and measures of development.
In the opinion of the World Bank, rural development is “a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of a specific group of people – the rural poor”.10 The World Bank sees rural development from the point of view of rural modernization and monetization of the rural society leading to its transition from traditional isolation to integration within the global economy. The World Bank also tries to differentiate rural development from development activities through community efforts which are referred to as community development. By this definition rural development constitutes;
a process of planned change for which one approach or the other is adopted by government or international agencies for improvement and or transformation of the lot of the rural populace.11
Diejornaoh defined rural development as
process of not only increasing the level of per capita income in the rural areas, but also the standard of living of the rural population measured by food and nutrition levels, health, education, housing, recreation and security.12
Typical rural areas are characterized by lack of good roads, potable water, electricity and recreation outlets, inadequate health facilities, low life expectancy and over-populated households.
To Wraith, rural development is;
a change which involves an advancement in the provision of welfare services, mobilization of human and non-human resources for the improvement and increase in the provision of infrastructural disposition of the community, state or nation in the sphere of roads, water supply, health services, education and such like areas which are within the ambit of its resources.13
But Dudley Seers, in his “measuring Development”, posits that development is a normative concept which the people who are developing set for themselves. If the goals are being met, it could be said that the people are developing. If they are not, then they are either static or retrogressing.
Definition of the Concepts
The key concepts here refer to Local Government and Rural
Development. The definitions are given below:
Local Government
Local government is the third tier of the government directly responsible for the management of the affairs of the rural people or better put, people at the grassroots level. The idea here is to bridge the gap between the rural people and the urban people. Local government is government at the local level administered through representative council established by law to exercise specific powers within defined areas. The local government complements the activities of the state and federal governments in their areas.
Rural Development
Rural development affects all aspects of the economic, social and political lives of the people who inhabit the rural areas. It is the process of alleviating all the conditions associated with the rural sector, i.e agriculture, education, employment, decent housing, medical care, electricity supply, roads, other means of communication, entertainment, facilities for social interaction etc.
Land and People
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area is made up of two main towns, Enugu-Ezike and Ette towns. Enugu-Ezike occupies the northern most fringes of Enugu State of Nigeria. It is the headquarters of the Igbo
Eze North Local Government Area and exactly 19.2 kilometers from the
University town of Nsukka. Its land area is approximately 260 square kilometers.14.
The town shares boundaries with the people of Obollo Afor in Udenu
Local Government Area on the eastern side, the people of Alor Agu in Igbo-
Eze South Local Government Area and Amaka, respectively, on the western side. The people of Ette, the nonIgbo speaking people in Enugu State is the second town that make up Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area. The people of Ihakpu Awka and Ekoyi Iheaka of Igbo-Eze South of Enugu State are in the south.
The town is located on a chain of hills running through the length and breadth of its land area. There are no rivers or streams, but a few springs that serve the people. The supplies of these springs are inadequate to the teeming population which had from time immemorial been faced with perennial water problem. The people are predominantly farmers and palmwine tappers. There abound in the area, tree crops such as the oil palm, kolanuts, Irvingia species, dennentia ripetala,15 among others. The oil palm is exploited for cooking oil, kernel, palm wine, brooms, baskets and as timber.
Enugu-Ezike is densely populated and has a population of over 92.213 people.18 The town comprises 33 villages, “the least among which compares favourably with any average rural town in old Anambra State both in size and in population.16 . The 1963 and 1991 population census of the area were
92,213 and 150,000 respectively. The population was projected at 24,758 in
2001.17
Statement of the Problem
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Authority as a third tier of government has not been assessed to know to what extent it has fulfilled the obligations of developing the rural communities under its jurisdiction. One does not even have a clear picture of the activities of this tier of government because of graft, corruption, poor management and destruction of records. There has been complaints that things have not been done as expected.
Staff complain of irregular payment of salaries, the communities complain of lack of infrastructure amidst the huge allocation from the Federation account. A careful study of the performance of this Local Government
Authority is thus imperative. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate to what extent Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council has been able to develop its rural communities in terms of provision of social and infrastructural facilities vis-à-vis the finance at their disposal.
Purpose of the Study
The general objective of this work is to examine the extent to which
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Authority has uplifted the standard of living of the rural populace under its jurisdiction through the provision of amenities and social welfare services as promised in 1976 Local
Government Reform.
Specifically, the study seeks to assess what the Local Government
Area has achieved judging from the revenue allocation it received from other arms of government in the period under study.
Significance of the Study
This study is an attempt to examine the achievements and failures of the Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council in the area of rural development and transformation during this period of study. Secondly, the work tries to identify and analyse the problems inhibiting Igbo-Eze North
Local Government from achieving some of its rural development objectives.
The identification of the problems of Igbo-Eze North Local Government
Areas may serve as a guide for other and future Local Government
Administrators in facing the problem of the rural development. Moreover, the information resulting from this study will contribute to existing literature on the contribution of local government in rural development and may stimulate further research.
Literature Review
Several studies have been done on Local Government and rural development in Nigeria. This study focuses on the achievements, failures and the problems inhibiting Igbo Eze North Local Government from achieving some of its rural development objectives.
In this study, the researcher has drawn from relevant records and books, both published and unpublished. Sunday Eze in his work entitled,
Igbo-Eze Local Government Area: The Beginning of An Era, begins by highlighting the geographical location of the local government area, the people, their culture and occupation.18 The birth of the council area in 1991 followed, though very briefly. The work was, of course, more of an album of the veteran, practising politicians and influential traditional rulers of Igbo-
Eze North Local Government.
Felix Okpara in his unpublished thesis, “The Role of Local
Government in Rural Development: A Case Study of Igbo-Eze Local
Government Area”, started by situating the council area as occupying the northern most portion of Enugu State. This is followed up with three operational definitions: Local Government, Rural and Development. At the end of the above definitions, the paper traces the birth of Igbo-Eze District
Council in 1954 to the Eastern Region Local Government Ordinance of
1950. The 14 communities that made up the council area were highlighted, namely, Essodo, Ezzodo, Umuitodo, Umuozzi, Etteh, Ibagwa-Aka and Itchi.
Others were Nkalagu-Obukpa, Ovoko, Unadu, Ihunaowerre and Alor-Agu19.
Okpara in his work discussed the role of Igbo-Eze Local Government in rural development from the point of view of mobilizing the rural masses for grassroot development. The paper was more of an essay on political mobilization, of the people i.e age grades, town unions, etc, by the government for development activities with the government acting as flag- bearers of such self-help efforts. Nevertheless, the writer fails to note that self-help community efforts exist to complement and not replace government efforts in providing socio-economic services to the people. E.O. Awa’s paper “The Theory of Local Government” is relevant. It defines local government thus: “A political authority set up by a nation or state as a subordinate authority for the purpose of dispersing or decentralizing political power”.20 Awa’s sixteen-page essay is more of a work on leadership in local government. He concludes by warning that management should be careful in handling staff matters. However, Awa’s definition is relevant to this study particularly because he perceives the subject in the light of a government exercised through representative councils; a government which initiates and directs the provisions of services and also determines and implements projects so as to complement the activities of the state, the federal and international agencies in the council area.
D. Oluwu in his work titled, Local Government and Rural
Development in Nigeria, describes government approach to rural development as “a mere shame”21. According to him, government has succeeded in imposing developmental programmes on the rural masses.
Such programmes, he argues, only benefit a few rich and powerful urban class. Olowu calls for a model of rural development, which involves the genuine parties’ participation of the rural people; such, he continues, would be relatively independent of centralised urban-oriented bureaucratic machines.
O.F.J. Ayaide in his work, Rural Development in Nigeria: The role of
Government, argues that
Even though local government is a veritable vehicle for rural development, most local government has not made appreciable impact in this direction.22
He attributes this problem to the myriad of functions allotted to local government without commensurate financial backing.
Orewa and Adewumi in their work, Local Government in Nigeria:
The changing scene, trace the historical evolution of local government administration in Nigeria from the Lugardian Native Authority or Indirect
Rule to the modern local government system. The authors point out that the aim of the originators of Native Authority was “to evolve from their own institutions based on their own customs, the form of rule best suited to them and adopted to meet the new conditions”.23 They highlight the importance of local government staff in ensuring the efficient and effective management of the affairs of the councils.
A.E.C. Ogunna, writing on “One year of the New Local Government
Councils in Nigeria”, traces the history of Local Government reforms in
Nigeria from the British Colonial era to 1988. He concludes that for the local governments to serve as a powerful instrument for rural transformation, they should devise a plan in which:
The town improvement unions, age grades and social clubs of the area should be fully involved in the development of the local government whose primary purpose is transformation of the rural communities24.
In 1981, Ade Oladosu wrote a book entitled, Kaduna Essays in Local
Government. In this work, he argues that “there is no other institution in this country more capable of bringing physical infrastructural facilities, than the local government”25. The writer is of the view that for any rural development programme to be strong, effective and purposeful for the provision of necessary facilities in this country, local governments must be granted substantial autonomy by the higher tiers of government. It is, nevertheless, an open secret that to grant the local governments such autonomy, freeing them perhaps from all forms of state control, would be granting the authority licence to run the councils as a private financial empire, thereby enthroning personal aggrandizement, fraud, and embezzlement.
M.S.O. Olisa and J.I. Obiukwu in their book, Rural Development in
Nigeria: Dynamics and Strategies, regret that rural development activities and programmes of the past five decades of national independence have not transformed the country’s rural areas into the modern, well supplied and prosperous populations envisaged at the beginning of national sovereignty.
They conclude that:
In terms of the number of programme identification pursued, rural development in Nigeria has made considerable progress, but lamented that it has made little transformatory impact.26
They cite basic social services, public utilities and essential infrastructure as still being woefully inadequate in almost all corners of the country.
Local Government Year Book (1998) asserts that “the 1976 reform made some effort to ensure that local governments have access to financial and consequently, other resources (personnel and equipment)”.27 Before this time, local government had no clearly designated revenue sources except those that were assigned by state regional governments. The exclusive local revenue sources include: property, rate, and a range of other licenses and fees. In addition, federal and state governments were to make annual statutory allocations to local government. Apart from local government share of State and Federal governments were expected to make monthly allocations of 10% and 20% respectively, out of their revenue to local government.
Obviously, the local government stands out as a major factor and institution to initiate and implement basic developmental actions for the improvement of the standard of living of the people through the mission of infrastructural facilities. These facilities include pipe-borne water, electricity supply, health care delivery services, road construction, and maintenance of markets and motor parks, as well as educational opportunities. All these initiatives can only be actualised if the local governments are given a strong financial network. It goes without saying that given the under-developed nature of the rural people, no single individual can afford to pay appropriate price for the provision of these services, hence the need for governments’ intervention. This is to ensure the comfort and well-being of all the citizens.
Although the works reviewed above provide background knowledge of local governments and their rural transformation activities, they have a different focus. The present study, therefore, intends to fill a gap in respect of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area.
Scope of the Study
The study, in terms of spatial spread, covers the thirty-three (33) villages of Enugu Ezike and Ette town. The study also covers Ette, the Igala speaking people of the northern side of Enugu-Ezike.
The time-frame is twelve years, spanning the period 1991 to 2003.
This span is enough to allow an assessment of the performance of Igbo-Eze
North Local Government in rural transformation. The choice of 1991 as the starting point for the discussion is hinged on the fact that the local government was created in that year. It was formerly Igbo-Eze Local
Government Area, but in 1991, Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area was carved out. In that same year (1991), Igbo-Eze North started to have two state constituencies which include: State Constituency 1 and State
Constituency 2. The State Constituency 1 are the Umuozzi, while State
Constituency 2 were the Umunano which include Ezzodo, Umu Itodo,
Essodo and Ette.28
2003 is chosen as the terminal date of this study because that was the year the administration of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani introduced the
Development Centes. The Development Councils/Centres created in Igbo-
Eze North Local Government Area are as follows:
• Igbo-Eze North East, with Uda as the headquarters.
• Igbo-Eze North West, with Ette as the headquarters.
• Igbo-Eze North Central, with Ogrute as the headquarters.
Method and Sources
The approach is inter-disciplinary, chronological and thermatic. This study does not limit itself within the walls of history alone, as no single discipline will give a full account of local government and rural development. The work draws from primary and secondary evidence. The secondary sources are from unpublished and published works, within the reach of the writer. The primary sources include oral information elicited from the local politicians, council members and chairmen, past and present, community leaders and traditional rulers. Moreover, information was gathered from the rural masses, men, women and youths, as well as officers and staff of the local government. Official records such as minutes and gazettes, that were available, were consulted.
In line with contemporary historical research methodology, this work has benefited immensely from the works of researchers in other fields, especially political science and public administration and local government.
Organisation
The study is divided into five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction which provides the background to the study. It also states the research problems-purpose and significance of the study, methodology and organisation of the study, and the review of relevant literature.
Chapter Two examines the Local Government as the Third-Tier of
Government in Nigeria as well as social, political and economic trends in
Igbo-Eze North Local Government before 1991. Chapter Three examines the rural development efforts of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Authority from its birth in 1991 to 2003 in the areas of social and economic developments. Chapter Four focuses on the impediments to rural development in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Authority. Chapter Five is conclusion.
TABLE 1 POLITICAL WARDS OF IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT S/N WARD NAME VILLAGES UNDER THE WARD 1 Umuozzi ward I Aguibeje 2 Umuozzi ward II Igogoro 3 Umuozzi ward III Ugbaike 4 Umuozzi ward IV Amube 5 Umuozzi ward V Ogrute 6 Umuozzi ward VI Onitcha Enugu, Okata, Mkpamute, Ugwuattama 7 Umuozzi ward VII Umuida 8 Umuozzi ward VIII Isiugwu, Owerre-Eze 9 Umuozzi ward IX Umuopu 10 Umuozzi ward X Okpo, Ikpamodo, Ezilo 11 Umu Itodo ward I Amufie 12 Umu Itodo ward II Amachalla, Ikpuiga 13 Umu Itodo ward III Olido, Imufu 14 Essodo ward I Uda 15 Essodo ward II Aji 16 Essodo ward III Umuagama, Umuogbo Agu 17 Essodo ward IV Umuogbo, Ufodo, Umuogbo Ekposhi 18 Etteh ward I Ayeabe Ette 19 Etteh ward II Aishu and Ette Onu 20 Etteh ward III Onoda center Source: National Electoral Commission, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, 2011
END NOTES
1D. Olatunsun (1973). “Commodity market boars and agricultural development”. A paper presented at the national agricultural seminar at Ibadan p.11.
2T. Bimber & S. Resnick (1973). A model of the trade and government sector in colonial economics, American Economic Review vol.63, p.15.
3W. Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle, L. Ouverture Pub. Ltd, p.25.
4J. Eze (2003). “Rural development under Igbo-Eze south local government”. Unpublished M.A. Research Project, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka p.4.
5Third National Development Plan 1975-1980 (1975). Federal ministry of economic development Lagos, p.102.
6World Bank (1990). “Poverty” World development report. Washington, D.C. p.18.
7R.E. Wraith (1972). Local administration in West Africa. London: George Allen & Unwin, p.11.
8L. & N. Nyako, Integrated strategy approach for poverty alleviation, African Development Review 3(1), 29.
9F. Franon (1982). The Wretched of the earth. London: Meslink Pub. P.13.
10World Bank, “Poverty” World Development Report op.cit p.23.
11World Bank “Poverty” World Development Report op.cit p.36.
12V.P. Diejomaoh (1972). “Rural development in Nigeria: The role of fiscal policy”, A paper presented at the annual conference of Nigerian Economic Society, p.17.
13R.E. Wraith, Local Government in West Africa p.11.
14A.A. Apeh (2002). “The oil palm industry in Enugu-Ezike”. Unpublished M.A. Research Dissertation, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, p.5.
15Ibid.
16Nigeria population census 1991, Eastern Nigeria Zone (Federal Office of Statistic) p. 207.
17B.O. Eze, “Enugu-Ezike from Origin” in Nkpozi. A Journal of Enugu- Ezike History and Culture 1(1), p.13.
18The Nigerian Population Commission population projections, 2001.
19Freancis Ujah, 55 Secretary Igbo-Eze North Local Government Interviewed 7/12/10.
20S.R. Eze (1998). Igbo-Eze Local Government Area: The beginning of an era. Enugu: CECTA Publishers, p.6.
21F. K. Okpara (1989). “The role of local government in rural development: A case study of Igbo-Eze local government”. Unpublished Thesis, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, p.12. 22E.O. Awa (1980). “The theory of local government”. Unpublished Lecture Note June, p.1.
23D. Olowu (1987). “Local government and rural development in Nigeria”, Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka p.15.
24O.F.J. Ayaide (1990). “Rural development in Nigeria”, the role of government” Department of Public Administration, University of Nigeria, Nsukka p7.
25G.O. Orewa and J.B. Adewumi (1983). Local government in Nigeria: The Changing Scene. Benin: Ethiope p.12.
26A.E.C. Ogunna “Ogunna “One year of the new local government councils in Nigeria” Statesmen Newspaper Thursday, Dec. 23, p.7.
27A. Oladosun (1981). Kaduna essay on local government. Kaduna: Oyeleye Printers p.4.
28M.S.O. Olisa and J.I. Obiukwu (1992). Rural development in Nigeria: Dynamics and strategies. Owerri: Mekslink Publishers, p.47
29Federal Republic of Nigeria: Local Government Year Book 1998. Federal Ministry of Information Lagos. p.8
CHAPTER TWO
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS THIRD TIER OF GOVERNMENT IN NIGERIA
The creation of the local government system as the third-tier of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the landmark result of the 1976 Local Government Reform, introduced by the Federal Military
Government under General Olusegun Obasanjo. In 1976, the Federal
Military Government undertook the responsibility to reform the local government system in order to ensure a uniform pattern of local government administration. It was designated as the third-tier of government after the federal and state which are the first and second tiers of government, respectively.1
An important responsibility of the local government as enshrined in the constitution was to reach the people at the grassroots or local level. This assertion means that until hitherto, local government in Nigeria had no administrative initiative of its own than acting out the scripts as drafted by the state government. In other words, the local government had no constitutional recognition but existed by the edits of state governments.2
With the new authoritative recognition by the Federal Military
Government, the Local Governments in Nigeria were unified into a single-
23 tier multi-purpose system and charged with responsibilities like their state and federal governments. Funds for administrative and developmental responsibilities were allocated to the local governments as their states and federal counterparts. Thus, the new structure was adopted in the second
Republic when Nigeria transited to a civilian regime in October 1979. The
Nigerian Constitution of 1979 consequently recognised the legal existence of local government as a tier (third in the hierarchy) of government in Nigeria.
It stated in Section 7(1) and Sub-Section (2) (a and b) thus:
The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is under this constitution guaranteed, and accordingly, the government of every state shall ensure their existence under a law which provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions of the councils.3
With the above provisions, local governments were given a new form.
Membership into local government councils became elective and no more at the caprices of state governors. Again, a system of internal checks and balances of functions was instituted at the local government levels such that the Chairman of local councils could no more behave in dictatorial manners.
Moreover, local governments were charged with responsibilities to engage in executing developmental objectives at the local level. Ever since this exercise, the Nigerian Local Government System has undergone other significant reforms with successive administrations in Nigeria. It is important to briefly examine the major reforms in the local government system after the 1976 local government reforms.
Prior to the major institutional reforms, the second Republic upheld the 1976 Local Government Reforms which were later recognised and inserted in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979).4
Following the military take-over through coup de’tat on December,
31st 1983, the Local Government System in Nigeria had a further reform.
The local government structure and external sources of revenue mobilisation through the federation statutory allocation were maintained. Thus, a 15% share of the general federation revenue was allowed to the local government for efficient functioning as a system.
The Babangida Administration (1985-1993) increased the number of local governments in Nigeria from 301 to 449 in 1989 and later to 589 in
1991.5 Again, the local government share of the federation monthly allocation was increased to 20% by his regime. Following his botched transition to civil rule programme instituted in 1986, he introduced a parliamentary system of administration in the local government system. By the new arrangement, the secretary to the local government council even though was a career civil servant, acted as the accounting officer of the local government, while the Chairman of the council became the political head of the local government council.6
To enhance the autonomy of local government councils, the ministries of local government were replaced by a department of local government in
7 the Governor’s Office of each state . In pursuance of transitional programmes of the Federal Military Government, in 1991, the autonomy of the Local Government Area was put in place to allow for the democratisation process in the local government administration. This was known as the local government (Basic Constitutional and Transitional
Provisions) (Amendment No. 23) Decree of 1991.8 The annulment of the transitional programmes by the same federal military regime in 1993 led to the non-realisation of a state functional local government by the Babangida administration.
Following the take-over of power by the late Gen. Sani Abacha in
November 1993, further reforms were instituted by him in the Nigeria local government system. By 1995, Abacha increased the number of Local
Governments in Nigeria to ensure improved grassroots participation in governancne. The Abacha administration instituted a committee on the creation of states and local governments in Nigeria, which recommended for additional local governments and states in Nigeria. The recommendation led to the creation of more states in Nigeria making a total of 36 States while
Local Governments in Nigeria were increased to 774 Local Government
Councils.9 There was no modification in the revenue sharing formula at the time as local government share of the Federation Statutory Allocation
(monthly) still stood at 20%.
Of note is that there was an improvement, especially starting from the
Babangida era in the distribution of federation accounts. For example, the
Babangida administration made it possible for local government councils to receive the monthly allocations directly from Federation Account. This was upheld by the Abacha administration which now put a check on state governments’ interferences in the revenues accruing directly to the local government from the Federation Account. To a large extent, the introduction of direct allocation to the local governments helped to improve the financial conditions of the local governments, thereby making them discharge their financial and developmental responsibilities at the grassroots level.
It was in order to recognise and uphold the local government as the third-tier level government in Nigeria that the constitution (1999) provided for an elected representative body for the local governments in Nigeria, unless otherwise expedient. In other words, the political organ of the local government authority shall be composed of locally democratically elected body. However, under emergency members of the body are to be chosen/selected from among the local people, provided that the selection or appointment shall be a representative spread of the people.10
The Constitution further increased the responsibilities of the local government Chairman by making him the Chief Security Officer of the local government as well as the Chief Accounting Officer of the local government council. This made it possible for the Chairman to manipulate the local government authority according to his whims and caprices.
Furthermore, an improvement in inter-government relations was introduced through the establishment of the local governmental office in the presidency. This, to a large extent, helped to ensure effective communication between the office of the presidency and the local government councils. Consequently, the State Accountant-Generals represented the local governments in the Federal Allocation sharing committee with a view to ensuring effective distribution of monthly
Federation Statutory Allocation to the local government councils.
However, this later posed a big threat to the functioning of local government. This is because the state governments could utilise the office of the State Accountant. General to manipulate and exploit the local government councils. This has been so and has adversely affected the financial condition of many local government councils. For example, many of the local government councils scarcely utilise all the revenue that was due to them monthly from the Federation Statutory Allocation.11 because of state governments’ interest and manipulation of the local government area allocations.
This condition has been responsible for the present agitations by the local governments for improvement not only in their monthly percentage share in the federal statutory allocations, but also to be allowed direct participation in the revenue/statutory allocation committee. This would ensure an improvement in their individual fiscal autonomy and more input in local government infrastructural development. Igbo-Eze North Local
Government, as one of the local government councils in Nigeria, share similar characteristics with other local government councils in Nigeria.
Igbo-Eze District/Divisional Council 1954-1975
Igbo-Eze District Council 1954-1971
By the Eastern Region Local Government Ordinance No. 16 of 1950,
Igbo-Eze District Council was established in April 1954. Isi-Uzo District
Council, Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani were all created in April 1954 by the same Ordinance. Together, they were to be administered as part of Nsukka County Council established by Section 4 of the Eastern Region Local
Government Ordinance of 1950.
The instrument and seal numbers 1,2,3,4 and 6 that established the district council of Igbo-Eze on April 1, 1954 is hereby reproduced and read thus:
Instrument establishing the Igbo-Eze District Council.
• In exercise of the powers conferred upon the regional authority by
section 4 of the Eastern Region Local Government Ordinance, 1954
(herein after called “the ordinance”), the Igbo-Eze District Council
(herein after called “the Council”) shall be established upon the 1st day
of April 1954.
• The common seal of the council shall be the following device.
• The area of the authority of the council shall be the area of the authority of the following local councils: i. Essodo, ii. Ezzodo, iii. Umuitod, iv. Umuozzi, v. Etteh, vi. Ibagwa- aka, vii. Iheaka, viii. Iheapuawka, ix. Itchi, x. Ihunowerre (Eketekere), xi. Alor Agu, xii. Ovoko, xiii. Unadu and xiv. Nkalagu-Obukpa. • The council shall consist of a council of twenty seven elected members. The councilors of the council shall be elected in accordance with the population which is presented in the table below: TABLE 2.1: IGBO-EZE DIVISION COUNCIL’S ELECTORAL COLLEGE LOCAL NUMBER OF LOCAL NUMBER OF COUNCIL MEMBERS COUNCIL MEMBERS Essodo 2 Ibagwa-Aka 2 Ezzodo 1 Iheaka 2 Umuitodo 3 Iheakpu-Awka 1 Umuozzi 5 Itchi 1 Etteh 3 Nkalagu-Obukpa 1 Total 14 Ovoko 2 Unadu 1 Ihunowerre 1 Alor Agu 1 Total 13
In essence, the history of council over the five autonomous communities that make up the Igbo-Eze division dates back to April 1, 1954. Joined together with these five northern communities in the Igbo-Eze district council were
Ovoko, Iheaka, Itchi, Alor-Agu, Ibagwa-Aka, Unadu, Ihunowerre, Nkalagu-
Obukpa and Iheakpu-Awka.
The Article No. 4 of the instrument that established the council almost put the two groups at parity in sharing of political council wards 13 and 14.
The District Council’s Electoral College consisted of 71 members who were responsible for electing people into the upper chamber. The county council members were appointed as shown in Table II below:
Table 2: Igbo-Eze District Council’s Electoral College
Local council Number of Local Council Number of Members to be Members to be Appointed Appointed Essodo 6 Umuitodo 8
Ezzodo 2 Umuozzi 21
Etteh 7 Total 44
Iheakpu 3 Unadu 2
Nkalagu-Obukpa 4 Iheaka 4
Alor-Agu 1 Ovoko 4
Itechi 3 Ibagwa-Aka 5
Ihunowerre 1 Total 105
Igbo-Eze Divisional Council (Establishment): 1971-1975 In 1971 Igbo-Eze Divisional Council was established. Instrument, 1971 Pursuant to subsection (1) of section 4 of the Divisional
Administration Edict, 1971, and to all other powers enabling him in that behalf, His Excellency, the Administrator of East-Central State of Nigeria hereby makes the following.11
Instrument
• This instrument may be cited as the Igbo-Eze Divisional Council
(Establishment) instrument, 1971, and shall come into force on the
first day of November, 1971.
• The Igbo-Eze Divisional Council (here in after called the council) is
hereby established.
• The common seal of the council shall be the following device.
• The area of authority of the council shall be the area of the
administrative division of Igbo-Eze.
• The council consists of
Ø The Chairman and Vice-Chairman
Ø One representative from each of the community councils in the
division.
Ø Three traditional office holders in the division appointed by the
administrator.
Ø The following ex-officio members namely.
Ø Divisional education officer or his representative.
Ø Ministry of works, housing and transport task force leader in-
charge of the division or his representative.
During this period, roads were grim battlefields, water-logged during the rains, under erosion threat and dangerously slippery. As cars and lorries found it difficult to ply the roads during wet season, head porterage and bicycle transport remained much in use. Furthermore, in all the communities of the council, there was no electricity, even at the Local
Government headquarters, Ogrute. In other communities, hurricane lanterns were the only source of light. Moreso, water problem was acute. There are no rivers or streams, but a few springs. The supplies of these springs are inadequate to the teeming population who had from time immemorial been faced with perennial water problem. In 1960, two communities in Enugu-Ezike, namely, Umuagama and Aji, launched their water scheme with the assistance of an Irish Parish
Priest, Father M.C Glade.13 Under the scheme, a water bore-hole was dilled in each of the two communities and each was to have a reservoir which was estimated to cost one thousand, two hundred pounds (£1,200). This was financed by Rev. Fr. Glade through the financial assistance from a Roman
Catholic Organization in Western Germany. The project was handled by an
Italian firm, the Balakhani Drilling Company Ltd which was operating in
Nigeria then. In 1963, the completed projects were commissioned by the
Eastern Nigeria Premier, Dr. M.I. Okpara in a colourful ceremony.14
There were always very long queues, especially during the dry season, since the borehole was the only water source for numerous communities.
The time, pains and trouble associated with getting the tap water, forced most people to continue using pond water and other unsafe sources.
In the period before and up to 1991, in the sphere of health, the communities of the council had only one General Hospital. This took care of the health problems of the entire population of the council. Besides being inadequate, it was under-staffed and ill-equipped. Worse still, sick people and pregnant mothers hardly had access to it in case of emergency because of bad roads. Most homes, therefore, depended on the speculations of the herbalists for health care needs, with mortality rate remaining high among the people. The development this period was almost stagnant.
The Creation of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council
Local government creation was necessitated by the desire to improve the living standard of the rural people or to develop the rural areas.
Therefore, the creation of local governments was in response to the need for socio-economic advancement. The Babangida Administration (1985-1993) increased the number of local governments in Nigeria from 301 to 449 in
1989 and later to 589 in 1991. On August 27, 1991 Igbo-Eze local government was divided into two separate independent local government:
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area and Igbo-Eze South Local
Government Area.
Igbo-Eze North Local Government comprises Enugu-Ezike people and Etteh. The headquarters of the Local Government Area remained
Ogrute Enugu-Ezike.
The General Administration/Organisation Structure
A look at the administrative and organisational structure of Igbo-Eze
North Local Government shows that in conformity with the 1976 Local
Government General Guidelines for Nigerian Local Government, the chairman of the Local Government is the overall head of government. He has a vice-chairman and three statutory aids, personal assistant, personal secretary and advisers on projects and security.
Also, in conformity with the 1976 Local Government General
Guidelines, Igbo-Eze North Local Government has six operational departments as follows: personnel management, agriculture, finance, health, works, and education. In these six departments, the personnel have two units with the political head (supervisory councilor) and the administrative head (senior career civil servant).
The Igbo-Eze North Local Government operates with a total staff of
6,7315 distributed as follows:
Office of the Chairman - 32
Office of the Secretary - 3
Personnel Management Unit - 134
Finance and Supply - 110
Agriculture and Veterinary - 40 The Council - 16
Works and Housing - 83
Education - 78
Medicine and health - 177
The personnel Management Department, with a total staff strength of
134, is headed by a chief personnel officer on GL 15. The Department has
99 members of staff between GL 03 and 06, 34 between 7 and 12 and 1 on
GL 15, who is the Chief Personnel Officer. This Department, according to
Mr. Felix Agboja, is “the pivot on which all activities of the establishment revolve”16. The head of this unit control the entire staff of the council.
Invariably, he reports matters on staff to the Local Government Service
Commission, Enugu. Therefore, this unit has a big role to play in the smooth and effective running of the council.
The Finance and Supply Department with a total staff of 110, has 70 staff members between GL 02 and 06, 46 between GL 07 and GL 12 and 1 on GL 13, who heads the department with the designation: Assistant Chief
Account. As the Treasurer and Head, he keeps custody of monies received by the council and disburses money with approval of the Chairman.
The Health Department, with a staff of 177, is headed administratively by a Chief Community Health Officer (C.H.O) on GL 15. He controls and supervises activities of the staff, aided by the political head of the department. Also, the coordination of the various health programmes sponsored by the Federal Government of Nigeria and International
Organizations fall within his portfolio.
Education department, with several units-Social Welfare, Adult
Education, Information and Sports, has a total of 78 staff. The unit is headed by Adult Education Organiser on GL 12. The duty of this department is essentially the supervision and promotion of educational activities, including games and sports, in the Local Government.
Works Department has a supervisory councilor for works on GL.14 as the administrative head. This Department is responsible for all Council’s physical projects. The political head supervises the council projects on direct labour as well as those on contract. Out of the staff of 83, 72 are between GL 02 and 06, 10 between 7 and 12 and 1 on GL 14 who is incidentally the Chief Engineer and Administrative Head of the Unit.
The Agricultural and Veterinary Department is the smallest in terms of staff strength. This unit is headed administratively by a Principal
Agricultural Officer on GL 12. This unit handles fertilizer issues, inoculation and treatment of animals in the various communities, inspection of meat sold in the markets and management of council farms. The present political head of this unit, Hon. Anthony Agbo, was quick to note, “The greatest problem of this department has been that of logistics”.17 The department needed at least a motor cycle for reaching out to the rural people, but had none at the time of the interview.
Finally, the Audit is worthy of mention because of its vital role in the council. This unit, with members of staff drawn from Finance Department, is headed by a Senior Accountant on GL.10 and with him are four other staff members of the junior cadre. This unit sees to the examination and certification of all payment and financial proposals made by the council before money is actually released. The unit has direct link to the chairman.
Organisational Structure of Igbo-Eze North Local Government
CHAIRMAN
VICE-CHAIRMAN
SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT
SUP. CUR. EDUCATION/SUP.CUR.AGRIC SUP.CUR. SUP.CUR. SUP. CUR FINANCE HEALTH WORKS
H.O.D H.O.D H.O.D H.O.D H.O.D H.O.D Education Agric Finance Personnel Health Works
SOURCES OF IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVENUE
Financial strength is the key to the survival of any institution, whether public or private. It determines the number of projects to be executed, the payment of salaries and allowances, retirement benefits, smooth administration, and capital procurement and investment. It may be pertinent here to review the revenue generation of Igbo-Eze North Local Government for four years. This will help to find out whether the present level of development in the local government is consistent with the level of revenue generation or whether there are other intervening variables that have marred the level development. For details of revenue generated see the tables below.
Generally, there are two basic sources of revenue open to local governments within the nation’s local government system. The two sources are: Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and Statutory Allocation. The internally generated revenue sources open to all local governments in the country are many. These sources are derived from three principal headings viz: Local licences, taxes (commodity rate), fees and fines.
Local Licence
This embraces revenues derived by the Council from licences of carts, trucks, wheel barrows, liquor and palm wine/tappers. There are also licences of bicycles, bakery houses, kiosk permits as well as workshops of artisans – blacksmiths, carpenter, panel beaters, vulcanisers, motor/motor cycles mechanics, etc. The local government also derives revenue from licence on Dane Gun ownership, as well as on machines that mill corn, cassava, etc. All these and more are the sources of Igbo-Eze North Local
Government Revenue.
Fees and Fines
Under this sub-heading are the revenues that accrue to the council from registration of marriages, births and deaths. There are also fees paid by owners of herbal homes, dispensaries and maternities, produce buyers, hawkers, and eating houses. Market and motor park fees collected daily or monthly from vehicle owners and traders using these facilities also come under the above description. These revenue sources under the description
“fees and fines” according to the current council Internal Auditor (IA) are of
“extreme financial significance to the Igbo-Eze North Local Government”18.
This is perhaps because of the volume of its financial returns to the council.
In the local government revenue chart that follows below, market fees ranked first in 2000, 2001, 2002 and other subsequent years.
In this study, the writer observed that of the 101 sources of internal revenue base open to local governments in Nigeria, Igbo-Eze North Local
Government derives its internal revenue from only 16 sources.
Table 2.3: State and Local Government Resource Profile State/Local Government, Igbo-Eze North
TYPE 2000 (NM) 2001 (NM) 2002 (NM) 2003 (NM) Internally 12,050,502.5 7,384,882.27 11,697,463.7 5,627,966.6 Generated Revenue (IGR) Federation 171,470,317 263,829,585 511,752,557 96,113,403 Account Value 70,400,606 76,021,811.5 34,749,491.2 180,848,266 Added Tax (VAT) Total 253,921, 426 347,236,279 558199512 282,589,636 Revenue Grand Total 2000-2003 1446946853 from Recurrent 57,742,033.71 61,969,018.11 70,221,698.60 79,801,346.70 Expenditure: Personnel Emolument Over Head 11,434,359.50 13,370,692.73 20,405,400.00 21,408,299.9 Cost Total 69,176.393.21 75,339,710.11 90,627,098.86 101,209,646.61 Recurrent Expenditure:
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Revenue Sources taken from the council supplementary Budget Estimates 2000. The second source of Igbo –Eze
North Local Government Revenue designated as “Statutory Allocation,” simply points to the local government sources of external revenue. It covers monthly allocations from the Federation Account to the local government, Value Added Tax (VAT) and allocations from the state government to the local government.
Section 149, subsections 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 of 1979 Constitution of the
Feral Republic of Nigeria, which made provision for statutory allocation of revenue from the Federation Account as well as from the state’s internally generated revenue to the local government is reproduced below. The
Constitution stipulates as follows:
Any amount standing to the credit of the federation account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Government and the local governments in each state. Any amount standing to the credit of the local government in the federation shall be allocated directly to the local governments concerned on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.
Each government and local governments in the state shall maintain a special account to be called “Local Governments Account” into which shall be paid such funds to be applied for joint purposes as may be prescribed by the State or National Assembly. The amount standing to the credit of Local
Governments in the Local Government Account shall be distributed among the Local Governments on such terms and in such manner as may be prescribed from the House of Assembly of the state. Even though the above appears a sound constitutional financial stipulation for Local Government in Nigeria until 2006, local governments did not receive any allocation/grant from the Enugu State Government of Dr.
Chimaroke Nnamani between 1999 and 2005. This claim was authenticated clearly by the Igbo-Eze North Local Government 2001 Budget Draft
Estimates. In this budget, the 2000 - 2003 Federal Allocation to the council stood at N253,921,426, N347,236,279, N558,199,512 and N282,5896 respectively making a grand total of N14,469,4,6853 (See revenue profile in table 2.3, p.44). Allocation/Grants from the state to council for the four years was zero. In essence, it could reasonably be said that the only revenue source opened to Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council under the
Statutory Allocation was the monthly allocation to the council from the
Federal Account as at that time. The then Chairman of the Council, Chijioke
Ugwu noted that the local government began to receive allocation/grant from the Enugu State Government from 200619 as seen in the summary of local government council revenue profile. END NOTES
1The Federal Government of Nigeria (1976). Guidelines to local government reforms p.3.
2The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1970). Daily Times Lagos: Publications p.8.
3E. Ozor (1998). Democratization: A key factor to local government effectiveness in Nigeria, in Nigeria. Journal of Public A dministration and Local Government vol.9, p.55.
4Guideline to Local Government Reforms (1976). Lagos: Government Printer p.10.
5The Federal Republic of Nigeria (1998). Local government year book. Abuja: Affairs Office in the Presidency Yonem Publicity, p.6.
6Ibid.
7Ibid.
8Local Government: Basic Constitutional and Transitional Provisions. Amendment No. 23 Decree, 1991.
9The Federal Republic of Nigeria: States and local Government Creation Decree 1995.
10F.C. Ujah 55, Secretary local government Igbo-Eze North. Interviewed at Amachalla 7/12/10.
11Instrument Establishing Igbo-Eze Divisional Council No. 18 of 1972 National Archives Enugu D. 203.
12G.C. Omeh 70, Retired school teacher, interviewed at Nkpamute Enugu- Ezike, 8/6/11.
13R.A. Onu (1999). Community development efforts in Enugu-Ezike. Unpublished B.A Project, Department of History, University of Nigeria, p.37. 14Ibid.
15Staff Nominal Role Records: Administration Office, Igbo-Eze North Local Government.
16F. C. Agboja 56, Staff, Igbo-Eze North Local Government, Administration, Department Inteviewed 7/8/11.
17A. C. Agbo 52, Political head of Igbo-Eze North Agriculture and Vertinary Department Interviewed at Igogoro, July 28, 2011.
18Enugu State Local Government System Approved Estimate of Igbo-Eze North Local Government, 2000 and 2003.
19C.H. Ugwu, C. 50 Executive Chairman Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council, Interviewed 7/9/11.
CHAPTER THREE
RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 1991-2003
The thrust of this chapter section are the nature and character of the relationship that existed between local government and rural development during the period of our discussion. The emphasis is that there is correlation between local government and rural development. Thus, local government and rural development are directly related. This is because local governments are created for the sake of generating rural development. In other words, local governments are created to serve as mechanisms for the acceleration of the overall process of rural development.
Rural development is a strategy designed to improve the economic and social life of the people in the rural areas. The main concern in rural development is “supposed to be modernization of rural society through a transaction from traditional isolation to integration with the national economy for equitable and balanced development of the national”.1 It is against this background that we shall try to investigate the extent Igbo-Eze
North Local Government Council has been able to develop the rural areas in its jurisdiction. This will contributions to education, health, roads, and
49 provision of social amenities in general. Such social amenities include electricity, water supply and motor parks/markets.
Education
Education is one of the weapons of training and equipping man skillfully to be able to conquer this environment. “It is used in solving human problem of all kinds, such as economic, social, political and moral
2 question or problem” This means that the standard of education provided by the local authorities determines the future life pattern and thought process of its people.
The achievement of Igbo-Eze North Local Government in the
Education sector was supervisory and can be discussed under three categories, namely, nursery, primary and adult education, handled by the local government education authority (LGEA). With the introduction of
Universal Basic Education (UBE) by Obasanjo administration in 1999, free education, that is education for all was introduced. The UBE programme also led to the establishment of infrastructure in primary schools and renovation of school blocks in the LGEA.
At the end of the Nigeria-Biafra War, there were only seven senior primary schools in Enugu-Ezike and numerous junior primary schools.
However, “in the year 2000, there were 96 senior primary schools”.3 This number did not include privately owned ones. Out of this number, none was built by the Local Government. They were built either by the host community or the state government. The private nursery/primary schools were built by various religious organizations with the co-operation of the people.
Between 2000 and 2003, the total number of teaching staff in Igbo-
Eze North Local Government Education Authority was 769. They had also
109 non-teaching staff. “Nursery classes were organized in all the primary schools in Igbo-Eze North and this development has created opportunity to many parents who now take their children to the nursery school and go to their normal business”.4
In view of the foregoing statistics, it is clear that the local government council did not make appreciable contribution (if any) in the construction/building of schools, especially primary schools which came under the statutory function of local government. However, the council has performed creditably well in the maintenance of the existing primary schools.
The implementers of the Universal Basic Education Programme
(UBE) also supplied seats to schools. They also supply teaching aids to schools for example, chalks, textbooks and first aid-boxes. If the people of Igbo-Eze North LGA are to benefit maximally from the education sub- sector, the Local Government Area Council (LGAC) should show example by supporting the schools in terms of proper supervision, provision of books, desks and other learning materials which make for good atmosphere for teaching and learning. The above function is yet to be performed by the
LGA.
Health
The importance of health to man especially the rural dwellers cannot be overemphasized. The rural public health care functions of the Nigerian local governments, as stipulated in the 1979 Constitution of the country, which should guide the councils, are hereby reproduced:
• Safeguarding and promoting public health.
• Building, equipping and maintaining or granting sums of money
towards the establishment, equipment and maintenance of health
centres, maternity centres, dispensaries and preventive health services
etc.
According to the Alakij (2000) primary healthcare means,
A health approach which integrates at the community level, all elements necessary to make an impact upon the health status of the people, an integral part of a national health care system which is both preventive, promotive, curative and rehabilitative.5
In Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, as in other local governments of rural Nigeria, there are graphic pictures of squalor, disease and want. Health records in these communities show the predominance of diseases such as “dysentery, malaria, fliariasis, typhoid, gastroenteristis, guiardiesis, infectious hepatitis, diarrhea and constipation”.6 They are indicative of uncontrolled environment, all being environment-induced. In
Igbo-Eze North, this could commonly be traced to the rural habit of using the bush as public lavatory, leaving human faeces open to flies that contaminate a wide range of food items in the communities. also, the people’s water sources, such as ponds, floods and wells, polluted by environmental factors, are homes to pathenogenic organisms. The result is high rate of mortality and mobility in these communities.
In pursuance of the rural public health policy, which is the most important factor to human existence, the Igbo-Eze North Local Government
Council began the rehabilitation of the existing health institutions in the region, viz, Ogrute and Aji Health Centres. At the end of this period, there were one state-government owned health institutions, 48 local government established health centres and 50 privately owned clinics throughout the area. They are not enough. Even the ones established by the local government were not properly maintained. These health outfits virtually owned and managed by private individuals have some implications. “The implication of the situation is that considering the high bills charged by these hospitals, the rural dwellers, with their financial position cannot afford the exorbitant hospital bill”.7 Thus, many of the people die without medical attention.
Below were health posts located in some communities.8
Health Post Date Commissioned
Igogoro 15/6/93
Umuida 5/10/92
Etteh 18/11/92
Aji 2/7/2002
Umuogbo-Agu 30/5/93
It is important to state that the above health posts were merely commissioned but not built by the LGA councils. The posts lacked medical personnel to man them and where they existed the personnel were paid by the communities that built them. The above statistics show that the last health post was commissioned in 1993. The implication of the above situation is that the LGAC did not pay attention to the healthcare of the people leading to the establishment of privately owned hospitals and clinics in the area.
Roads
A good network of roads is one of the most crucial factors in rural development. This is important because rural societies’ economic life depends largely on agriculture. The existence of these roads, especially rural roads, provides rural communities with the news to evacuate their agricultural products to the urban centres where they are mostly needed without incurring much expenses. Moreover, the more they are able to evacuate the agricultural products to the urban cities at less expenses the more their financial status and standard of living will improve. This is why good road network is considered a very important economic factor in rural development.
Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area never considered improving its road networks. This statement is buttressed by the fact that the Council area did not grade any of its truck C roads nor even fill any of the potholes or gullies caused by erosion in any of the rural communities. Not just this, none of the chairmen of the local government made any official statement or even indicated intent to grade, construct or repair any of the road networks. “The maintenance of C roads was ensured by the amateur age grade in their various villages.”9 “A few rich and patriotic sons of the town made efforts at grading the roads to their various villages”.10 Although one of the chairmen,
Chijioke Ugwu, (between 2007 and 2008) tried to grade and construct the road from Amufie to his community Amachalla, such effort could not be completed and the road now is a deathtrap for motor vehicles.
It was only the Directorate of Food Road and Rural Infrastructure
(DFRRI) that contributed immensely towards rural construction and rehabilitation of roads in Igbo –Eze North Local Government Area. The road construction by DFRRI was done in two phases, mostly in state/federal government owned trucks. This goes to support the point that the local government did not make any appreciate impact on rural development with regard to road construction and rehabilitation.
Electricity
In 1991, Enugu State Government energised the Igbo-Eze North Local
Government Area through the rural electrification project. Every village set up an electricity committee to see to the extension of power line to its domain. In 1993, twenty out of the thirty-three villages and Etteh community were connected to the national grid. Different communities paid
N250,000 each to the state’s Rural Electrification Board, but the local government has yet to make its 25% contributions to them towards the projects. This possibly explains why the state is reluctant to play its part.
It is important to observe that the distribution of the above council projects from 1991 to 2003 was characterised by intense lobbying with communities always at each other’s throat. Inter-community bickering, bitterness, hatred, and rancour were enthroned. Such ugly situation existed because the Council could not perform their duties as expected.
Water Supply
Between 19960 and 1970, only four water boreholes served the community at Umuagama, Aji, Ogrute and Ikpamodo. The Catholic Church in Enugu-Ezike, under Rev. F. D.M. Glade, sank two of the four water boreholes at Umuagama and Aji during the period. However, by the beginning of our period, water boreholes were established at Ogrute,
Amachalla, Imufu, Umuida, Umachi, Amufie Olido, Ugbaike, Uda, Onitsha,
Amaja, Okpo and Isiugwu. Most of these boreholes had been sunk by the state government and World Bank with the communities providing a percentage of the fund. Also some rich sons of the community sank boreholes for the benefit of the community”11. Igwe James Mamah provided
Ugbaike with a second borehole to complement the services of the government-sponsored one. In Aji, Chief Mike Ejinima, sank another borehole to complement the existing one.
The emphasis on establishment of water boreholes stems from the perennial problem of water scarcity in Enugu-Ezike community. Several addresses of welcome presented to government officials who visited the town invariably had a paragraph or two requesting the sinking of boreholes.
The degree of water scarcity in Igbo-Eze North is succinctly illustrated by
Frank Eze:
In Enugu-Ezike, the people relied on palm wine and water squeezed from a certain tree locally called “mgbu”. This tree on account of the role it played in the area as a source of ‘water’ was regarded as an important tree jealously guarded by its owners.12
From that time, different villages in the local government have embarked on water supply projects. Thus, the water problem in Enugu-
Ezike has been successfully dealt with by the communities. From the above report it is apparent that Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council was not able to provide pipe-borne water, nor repair damaged taps or maintain the existing ones. The local government therefore failed in its duties in this respect.
Market/Motor Park
There were few market centres in Igbo-Eze North local government area namely; Eke Ogrute now known as Eke Ozzi and Eke Amufie, Orie
Ette Market and Nkwo Aji where the local government have market offices.
The main market in Enugu-Ezike is Eke Ozzi. Nevertheless, there are other markets in the various villages. An informant, Sylvester Iyida observes that
“in 1973, the Eke Ozzi market was established at Ogrute, a place more central than the Eke Amufie market”.13 The community made sure that no other market in the constituent villages opened for business on an Eke day.
The result was that Eke Ozzi became a big market from inception and has remained so till date.
The development and maintenance of these market centres were ensured by the communities. Each market centre was dotted with open stalls. “The financial burden for building the stalls was carried by the community and individual businessmen who paid to the local government council”.14 These markets also hold daily and serve as a sources of revenue to the local government council.
In the area of motor park construction, this was even worse. Although there were motor parks located at Ogrute, the transporters parked along the road (Umuida Junction) and took passengers who came to the market or who were transiting from one town to another. Again, motorcycles ‘Okada’ became the chief means of transport. “The parks were not properly maintained and yet local government officials collect rates and fees from them”15. The markets and parks formed the primary sources of the revenue for Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council. In general, the duties of
Igbo-Eze North LGAC are seen to be performed by the age-grade organization of the people, wealthy sons and daughters of the local government and the church organizations. In that regard, the LGC failed to develop the communities for which they were created despite huge sums of money allocated to the council from the Federation Account. One may then be tempted to wonder and ask what the council members used the money from the Federation Account to do if they could not perform their mandatory duties.
SUMMARY OF CAPITAL PROJECT 2000-2003 ENUGU STATE
IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
S/N Project Description Allocation Actual Remarks 2003 (NM) Exp 2003 Jan.-Dec. (NM) 1 Rural electrification: 25 17.15 (4) Four installation of 12 transformers transformers (200 KWA) were bought 2 Fencing of Local 0.3 .3 government secretariat 3 Reticulation of water lines 2 - 2 villages at the local government were secretariat and 14 villages reticulated with water lines 4 Building of 3 refuse 8 8 I dump finish dumps at Ogrute 5 Rehabilitation of 1 0.6 2 buildings buildings in the staff quarters 6 Development of markets in 8 3 One market the following six villages: Eke Ozzi is (i) Eke Ozi Ogrute (2) being Nkwo Igogoro (3) Orie developed Aguibee (4) Afor Onicha Enugu (5) Afor Nkpamute (6) Orie Okata 7 Construction of fuel dump 1 Site being in local government sort secretariat 8 Completion/Rehabilitation 2.5 .5 of local government abandoned grader 9 Rehabilitation of 1 .82 Re roofing dilapidated office and painting buildings in the secretariat 10 Construction of pond and 1 Rehabilitate procurement of fingering the existing and feed as well as drugs one for the fish farm at the local government 11 Establishment of piggery 1.5 0.5 Rehabilitate farm at Ogrute Igbo-Eze the existing North local government one heasdquarter 12 Rehabilitation, expansion 1.2 .5 Rehabilitation and renovation of the of existing poultry house measuring one 3m x 9m 13 Construction of erosion 2 1.5 Completed in and brake control at Ugwu 3 villages Fada, local government secretariat, Onicha Enugu, Umuida and Ekposhi 14 Financial and logical 1.5 1 Always in support for aids control support programme 15 National programme on .5 1.5 Pursued as immunization (NPI): many times purchase and distribution as possible of drugs and vaccine for immunization of children against perentable diseases 16 Provision of logistic 0.5 0.5 WATSAN Project in construction of VIP latrines in markets and schools 17 Rehabilitation of 0.5 0.5 Provision of workshop mechanic with tools a store and an office with necessary facilities 18 Grading of community 1.4 1.4 To enhance roads in Igogoro, Isiugwu the road, Ogrute/ relationship Onicha Enugu, Umuida, among the Unadu road villages
19 Construction of revenue .05 .01 offices in the same zones 20 Building of health centres 2 .5 At foundation at Umuida, Onicha Enugu level and Igogoro 21 Commercial Agric: 2.00 .5 Cultivation of Cultivation of farms at cassava and Aguibeje 220 lectres, at maize Ogrute, Umuida 22 Oil palm development: Purchased to purchase of farms at cover 20 Aguibeje 100 lectres farm, hectres palm and distribution to other forms at subsidized rate 23 Rehabilitation of facilities 1.5 1 1 each of in the existing primary primary and and secondary institutions secondary school 24 Street and house 2 1 One street identification proramme to Igbo-Eze north local government 25 Purchase of two new 6 1.5 One official vehicles 26 Establishment of TBL 3 2 microscopic laboratory with the necessary facilities at the local government headquarters 27 Building of a new 2.5 .5 Some parts borehole at Ugwu Fada, being bought Ezillo
PROJECTS WITH EXTERNAL FINANCE COMPONENTS ENUGU STATE, IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
S/N Project Description External Duration (Year) Amount Finance Disbursed Agency (NM) Donor 1. Building of workable bore World Bank (4) 2000-2003 .7 hole at Ugwu fa ther/Ekposhi/Onicha Enugu 2. Building of health centres UNICEF (4) 2000-2003 1.5 at Umuida and Igogoro 3. Development of: (1) Eke World Bank 2002 2m Ozzi market (2) Afor Mkpamute (3) Nkwo Igogoro (4) Afor Onicha Enugu (5) Orie Okata (6) Orie Aguibeje
END NOTES
1J.O. Eneh (1987). Rural development: Philosophical perspectives, paper presented at multisectoral rural development conference. University of Nigeria, Nsukka p.7.
2Ibid p.45.
3Igbo-Eze North local government education authority estimate, 19 p.4
4U. C. Fredrick 70, retired headmaster, interviewed at Igogoro, February 20, 2012.
5W. Alakij, (2000). Essentials of primary health care and management. Benin City: Ambik p.171.
6Igbo-Eze North Local Government Health Office, Epidemology Bank 1998.
7B.N. Eze, C. 52, Community health officer in charge of Igbo-Eze North local government health services, Interviewed at Ogrute, March 17, 2012.
8C. Onu C.40, Health officer in-charge of Igoogoro health post, interviewed at Igogoro, January 18, 2012.
9E. James, C. 68, Retired police officer, Interviewed at Amachialla, 19/1/2012.
10I. Wilfred, C. 60, Trader of Onisha Enugu-Ezike, interviewed at Onisha Enugu-Ezike, March 17, 2012.
11E. Lawrence, C 58, Lecturer interviewed at Ikpamodo Enugu-Ezike, February 9, 2012.
12F. Eze (1981). “The role of voluntary agencies in community development: A case study of the RCM participation in rural water supply in Enugu-Ezike before the civil war”. Unpublished B.Sc Project, Department of Political Science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka pp. 14-15.
13S. Iyida, C 65, An artist interviewed at Igorgoro Enugu-Ezike, March 22, 2012.
14P. Omeh, C 58, a transporter, interviewed at Ogrute, March 21, 2012.
15E. Odo, C 50, transporter at Mkpamute Enugu-Ezike March 30, 2012.
16U. Fredrick, C 70, retired teacher, interviewed at Igogoro February 20, 2012.
CHAPTER FOUR
IMPEDIMENT TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN IGBO-EZE NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The greatest constraint to the implementation of projects is finance.
Most of the local governments in the country depend, to a large extent, on the state and federal governments because the amount they collect is very meager. A top civil servant has asserted that “it is not enough to pay staff salaries let alone to develop the rural area”1 The federal and state governments, through the statutory allocations, assist the local governments with the funds to pay the salaries of their workers and the daily administration. The problem over the years is that the amount being sent to the local government is very small and the funds are not usually paid in time and in some instances they are even withheld. The federal government normally allocates 10% of its revenue to the local governments, which was channeled to them through the state government.
According to Ogbo, “the most prominent and chronic drawback of the council’s efforts in the provision of services and amenities has been inadequate fund”2. To this, the 1991-1993 council chairman, added that the financial resources made available to the local government were not
67 adequate to enable the Council provide minimum standards of services to the people. But what about the internally generated revenue?
Another former council chairman, posed the question, “what meaningful project can a local authority do in this age of technology and inflation with a federal allocation of N900,000, which was the highest I received a month during my tenure, for both capital and recurrent expenditure?”3 On his part, Mr. Ukwuaba emphasised that the range of functions assigned to the local governments by law were not measured against their monetary and other resources. He observed that the sources from which local governments were expected to raise funds were not realistically appraised. As he put it, “I for one had less than ten sources out of the over one hundred and one local government internal revenue bases enunciated in the 1976 Reform Guideline”4.
According to the treasurer of the local government, rates, licences and central grants have never been sufficient for the needs of the council, making it impossible for the council to pay staff salaries. He further claims that, “as we find it difficult to balance our budget, we just give token attention to such other council functions as health, road construction/rehabilitation, rural water supply, electrification and motor parks”5. It would seem from the foregoing that the local government administration lacks the political will to utilize effectively the limited financial resources available to carry their duties as a tier of government.
The implication of this for rural development is implicit knowing that the political will to use financial resources of the people is the life-blood of any administration.
Even though it is on record that adequate funds were not made available to this local authority, it is also on record that even when reasonable funds were made available, they were often embezzled or swindled. To Mr. Celestine Eze, the story of Igbo-Eze North Local
Government Administration has been the practice of graft, “a grand opportunity for personal aggrandizement and the diversion of public money into private pocket”6 In essence, there was the swindling of the financial resources of the local government, from the council down to party stalwarts.
Some members of the council and party stalwarts are known to float companies for purposes of securing mobilisation fees for contracts that would hardly be executed and those that will not. One of the executive chairmen of the council admitted losing over N3.8 million in this respect, saying that “from the local government treasury, I paid out over N3.8 million as mobilisation fees to contractors (friends of the local government) for jobs that were not done”7 The Igbo-Eze North Local Government economic management from 1991 to present, according to Mr. Evaretus
Onu, “has seen entirely a tale of fraud, stealing and embezzlement”8. Chief
Omale Ogbo seems to have summarised it all when he pointed out that the oath of office which each executive took to serve the people was turned into an oath to serve self and party stalwarts. As he put it “each executive organised the local government as a private financial empire carved out for self and party stalwarts, embezzling public funds heroically”9. It seems of course, that corruption, fraud and embezzlement are endemic and age-old features of Nigerian local governments. In 1956, F.P. Cobb was detailed to investigate the corrupt practices and perverse activities of Igbo-Etiti District
Council. Moved by the volume of corrupt practices of the council, Cobb declared. “The conduct of Igbo-Etiti District Council was a public scandal”10.
Juliana Odo had this to say of Igbo-Eze North Local Government:
Bribery and corruption is rampant here. For field men who go for revenue drive to the councilors and staff, making personal money through fraud is more important than working for the general progress of the council area. Projects are executed only if councilors and staff at the top made money from them through over invoicing and kickbacks11.
One major problem that has greatly inhibited rural development programmes in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area has been the politicisation of the distribution of the council projects. A lot of politics and lobbying are associated with the distribution and citing of the council projects engendering inter and intra-community bitterness and rancour. This has been highly disintegrative and disruptive to the council’s programmes and project policies.
Worse still, even when a community has succeeded after lobbying in attracting a project from the council, politics and bickering still continued to bedevil the project. Politics intra-community continued with the project as to which village the project should be cited. The Ogrute water project of the council is a good case in point. When the council wanted to drill water borehole for the community, it was a war between the six villages of Ogrute.
Politics has been a cog on the wheel of progress and functionality of the council. Of course, the result of all the politicking and lobbing has been inequitable distribution of the council rewards with inter-community love, understanding and efficient council administration sacrificed on the alter of political bickering. Therefore, even though the resources available to the council are inadequate, the above explains more the failure and gap between expectations and realisations in the council’s mission of rural development and transformation.
Furthermore, it has been observed that the council has exhibited reckless spending attitudes over the years. In this regard, many people who have no functions to perform in the government of Igbo-Eze North are found to be on the payroll of the council. The current chairman noted that his payroll are the 16 party ward chairmen, the party chairman at local government level and his deputy, local government party, party secretary, 16 veteran politicians and 36 party supporters. These groups are paid fabulous salaries and also receive fabulous financial benefits from the council’s fund at the pleasure of the chief executive, the dispenser of local government wealth. “The salaries of these people robbed my government about N500,00 monthly”12 To Barr. Gody Ogbo, “what nearly killed my government was not the salary of this group, but cash gratification demands that ceaselessly came from them. My administration lost over N5 million under this heading”13 in essence, with the resources of the council wasted in many ways, the council was unable to meet their developmental responsibilities to the people.
Chijioke Ugwu noted that the inability of the local government in
Nigeria to attain the full status of a tier of government is at the root of the abysmal failure of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council in discharging its duty of rural development and transformation. That Nigerian local governments are derivative, not sovereign, as they are created by and derive their powers from the state. In his own words, “being a child of the state government to which they are responsible, they cannot be recognized as a tier of government and cannot function as such”.14 Hon. Ukwuaba seems to have put this view more succinctly saying “As a chairman I was heavily manacled by the state government’s imposed spending limit for the councils, seeking approval from the state for contracts with bureaucratic delays and arrogance”.15 To Omeh the state control of local government was unbearable under the military as “the military, in their love for authority and command, often exert undue influence of which sole administrators were victims”.16 In essence, the subjection of the local government to the watchful eye of state government in virtually all aspects of its activities made Igbo-
Eze North Local Government lose decision making powers needed by the council to function de facto and de jure as a tier of government. END NOTES
1B. Omisa, C 51, Head of local government service, Interview in his office Nov. 30, 2011.
2G. Ogbo, C 57, The 1991-1993 executive chairman of Igbo-Eze north local government, interviewed at igogoro, Dec.14, 2011.
3G.E. Ugwuaba, C 55, 1996-1997 Executive Chairman of Igbo-Eze north local government, Interviewed at Onitsha Enugu-Ezike, Nov. 28, 2011.
4Ibid p71.
5S. Okoro, e53, The Igbo-Eze north local government treasurer 1999-2002, Interviewed at Ogrute, March 15, 2012.
6C. Eze, C48, Market officer in charge of Eke Ozzi market 1999-2002, Interviewed at Ogrute, March 3, 2012.
7E. Onu, C 48. The political heads of works Department Igbo-Eze North local government council 2000-2003, Interviewed at Ugbaike, April 30, 2012.
8O. Nwaogbo, C70, The traditional ruler of Igogoro community, Interviewed at Igogoro, Feb. 20 2012.
9F .R. Cobb, “Inquiry into the administration of affairs of Igbo-Etiti district council” A report of inquiry into the council’s affairs, August 4, 1956, p.5.
10J. Odo, C. 45, staff Ibgo-Eze North local government, interview at Ogrute, Janurary, 20 2012.
11E. Ukwuaba, Interview cited
12 Gody Ogbo, Interview cited
13C. Ogbo, Interview cited.
14E. Ukwuaba, Interview cited
15N.C. Omeh, C 50, The former executive chairman, Igbo-Eze north local government council, interviewed at Amachalla, March 18, 2012. 16Ibid p.76
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
Rural development in Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council between 1991 and 2003 was not very impressive. The council within the period of 12 years was able to undertake only two water projects which were not completed due to lack of funds. It would have been a worse situation but for the intervention of the World Bank which sank and provided boreholes for five communities in the council area.
In the area of public health, the local government authority provided a total of 12 new health institutions, is still rural members of the community.
More importantly, the council’s approach to rural public health seemed to have paid little attention to improving the environmental conditions which breed diseases. In the area of electricity, very few of the thirty-four communities that make up the council area, were provided with electricity within the period under review.
It may be pertinent to observe that although the council scarcely engaged in road rehabilitation or reconstruction of the council area from
1991 to 2003, this meager achievement can be explained by the fact that in the north-eastern part of the Local Government Area are people whose main occupation was trading. As markets provided major source of revenue to the
76 council, the authority tried to engaged in poorly executed road construction and rehabilitation to serve the markets, which provided the internal finances of the council.
From the above observations, it can be said that the council achieved very little, apparently because of inadequate finabce, graft and corruption.
This unfavourable situation worsened progressively from the latter part of
2001 to 2003.
To solve the fundamental problem of rural development, including that of Igbo-Eze North, some people have suggested fundamental restructuring of the entire socio-political system, but the truth remains that the problem lies not in the system, but in the operators of the system. There is no way we can build the nation or effect grassroots development with the stock of the same present political characters and actors. The national concern first of all, given the present circumstances, should be how to build the man, how to imbue the man with moral character and etiquette before sending him forth for nation-building. If this is not done, development will continue to elude the people and the nation.
One other point of remark why the council in more than a decade failed to touch the lives of the people in a more positive way because of the non-involvement of the communities in the projects. Outside the rural electrification project in which the communities were involved, there was no other project where the communities were involved. When they make an input into a project packaged for them, they would co-operate to ensure quicker, better and more sustainable results. The various town/community development union, age grades and other similar organizations should be registered and formally recognised by the council and work alongside the council in development projects.
An attempt has been made in this study to examine the extent to which Igbo-Eze North Local Government Authority engineered rural development from 1991 to 2003. Our findings show that the various developmental efforts of the local government authority made minimal impact in developing the rural communities. The dismal failure stemmed mainly from internal contradictions, leadership indiscipline, lack of accountability and probity. Igbo-Eze North Local Government Council was more of a local power house for sharing the federal statutory allocations and other funds between the council and political party stalwarts. Even though the pioneer chairman of the council made some progress in areas of health and road rehabilitation construction, after him, the greater percentage of annual budgets for rural development ended up in private pockets and bank accounts. Although development was sluggish over those years, there were some commendable efforts at rural development especially on road.
Until selfless Nigerians take charge of the affairs of the local governments, there cannot be progress to a just and egalitarian society.
Responsible local government councils are the key to rural development. In summary, the Igbo-Eze North local government area council could not live up to the expectation of the people despite linited financial resources accruing to it from the federation account during the period under review. SCOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
ORAL SOURCES: SEE APPENDIX
Books
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Eze, S.R. (1998). Igbo-Eze south local government area: The beginning of an era. Enugu: CECTA Publishers.
Franon, F. (1982). The wretched of the earth. London: Meslink Publisher.
Ijere, M.O. (1992). Leading issues in rural development. Enugu: Acena Publishers.
Oforegbu, R. (1981). Administration for development in Africa. Owerri: Conch Publishers.
Okoli, F.C. (2000). Theory and practice of local government: A Nigerian perspective. Enugu: John Jacob’s Classic Computer System.
Oladoseen, A. (1981). Kaduna essay on local government. Kaduna: Oyakye Printers.
Olayide, S.O. (1980). Nigeria rural majority. Ibadan: Ibadan University press.
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Orewa, G.O. and Adewumi, J.B. (1983). Local government in Nigeria: The changing scene. Benin: Ethope Press.
Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe under-developed Africa. London: Bogle L. Overture Publishers.
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Apeh, A.A. (2002). “The oil palm industry in Enugu Ezike economy and society, 1960-1993 Unpublished M.A. Dissertation, Department of History, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
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Below is a Comprehensive list of all the Respondents and their Particulars
S/N NAME AGE OCCUPATION STATUS PLACE OF DATE OF INTERVIEW INTERVIEW 1 Agboja Felix 58 Igbo-Eze North Executive Igbo-Eze North 7/8/2011 LG Staff Officer LG Office 2 Agbo Anthony 52 Politician HOD Igogoro Enugu- 28/7/2011 Agriculture & Ezike Vertinary Department 3 Eze, B.N. 52 Civil Servant Health Officer Ogrute 17/3/2012 (Mrs) 4 Eze James 68 Police Officer Retired Amachalla 19/1/2012 5 Eze Celestine 48 Igbo-Eze North Market Ogrute 3/3/2012 LG staff Superintendent 6 Eya Lawrence 58 Civil Servant Lecturer Ikpamodo 9/2/12 Enugu-Ezike 7 Iyida Wilfred 60 Trader Trader Onitcha Enugu- 17/3/12 Ezike 8 Iyida Sylvester 65 Artist Artist Igogoro 22/3/12 9 Odo Emmanuel 50 Transporter Transporter Mkpamute E/E 30/3/12 10 Odo Juliana 48 Igbo-Eze North Executive Ogrute 20/1/2012 (Mrs) LG Staff Officer 11 Ogbo Godwin 67 Politician Ex-Chairman Igogoro 14/12/2011 12 Omale 75 Traditional Ruler Traditional Igogoro 20/2/2012 Nwogbo Ruler (HRN) 13 Okoro Silas 58 Civil Servant Treasurer L.G Igogoro 15/3/2012 14 Omeh Gabriel 70 School Teacher Retired Mkpamute 8/6/2011 15 Omeh 55 Politician Ex-Chairman Ugbaike E/E 18/3/2012 Chidiebere 16 Omeh Paul 58 Transporter Transporter Ogrute 2/3/2012 17 Omisa 51 Civil Servant Auditor L.G Ogrute 30/11/2011 Benjamin 18 Onu Everestus 53 Civil Servant HOD Works Ugbaike 30/4/2012 Dept. Igbo-Eze North L.G 19 Onu Constance 40 Civil Servant Health officer Amachalla 18/1/2012 20 Uja Francis 55 Politician Secretary L.G Amachalla 7/12/2010 21 Ukwuaba 56 Politician Ex-chairman Onicha Enugu- 28/11/2011 Emeka Ezike 22 Ugwu Chijioke 50 Politician Executive Ogrute 7/9/2011 Chairman 23 Ukwuaba 75 School Teacher Retired Igogoro 20/2/2012 Fredrick