Opinion

THE RETURN OF GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY: HOW LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IS GAINING NEW RELEVANCE IN NIGERIA

Published

4 months ago

June 15, 2026

By Sylvester Udemezue

(1) BACKGROUND

For many years, conversations about governance in Nigeria often revolved around the Federal Government and the States, while the Local Government system, the tier of government closest to the people, appeared increasingly weakened, marginalized and unable to fully perform its constitutional responsibilities.

Across the country, many citizens came to view Local Government Councils as little more than administrative extensions of State Governments. Local Government elections frequently attracted limited public interest. Chairmen and Councillors often operated under severe financial and political constraints. In many instances, local governance lost its attractiveness, vibrancy and capacity to serve as the foundation of democratic participation.

Today, however, a new conversation is emerging. A combination of political will, institutional reforms and a landmark Supreme Court judgment delivered on 11 July 2024 has reignited national attention on grassroots governance and has created fresh opportunities for the revitalisation of Local Government administration in Nigeria.

(2). THE REALITY BEFORE THE REFORMS

Before the recent developments, one of the major concerns regarding Local Government administration was the operation of the State Joint Local Government Account.

Although established under constitutional arrangements, critics argued that the system often enabled excessive control of Local Government finances by State Governments. Consequently, many Local Government Councils struggled to exercise meaningful financial autonomy.

As a result

(a). Local Government administration became increasingly dependent on State Governments

(b). Development initiatives at the grassroots level often suffered delays or limitations.

(c). Many citizens lost confidence in Local Government institutions.

(d). Local Government elections attracted less enthusiasm than they ought to have.

(e). The position of Local Government Chairman gradually lost much of its appeal and strategic significance.

Over time, concerns grew among scholars, civil society organisations, legal practitioners and democratic reform advocates that the constitutional vision of Local Government as a distinct tier of government was being undermined.

(3). PRESIDENT TINUBU’S INTERVENTION

One of the most consequential governance initiatives undertaken during the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the Federal Government’s decision to approach the Supreme Court seeking the protection of constitutional Local Government autonomy.

Through the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Federal Government instituted proceedings against the thirty-six State Governments, asking the Supreme Court to restore the constitutional status of Local Government Councils and ensure that funds allocated to them reach them directly.

This move represented a significant institutional effort aimed at strengthening democratic governance at the grassroots level.

(4). THE LANDMARK SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT

On 11 July 2024, the Supreme Court delivered what many observers have described as one of the most important constitutional judgments in Nigeria’s democratic history.

The Court held, among other things, that:

(a). Funds allocated to Local Governments should be paid directly to them.

(b). State Governments should not retain or control Local Government allocations.

(c). Democratically elected Local Government Councils must be respected.

(d). Caretaker arrangements cannot replace constitutionally recognised elected councils indefinitely.

(d). Local Governments are entitled to exercise their constitutional functions as a distinct tier of government.

The judgment effectively reaffirmed the constitutional place of Local Government administration within Nigeria’s federal system and sought to address longstanding concerns about financial dependence and political subordination.

(5) THE POSITIVE IMPACT ALREADY BEING FELT

Although the reforms are still evolving, several positive developments are becoming increasingly visible.

Renewed Interest in Grassroots Politics: Across many parts of Nigeria, Local Government politics is attracting renewed attention. Political actors, community leaders, youth groups and stakeholders increasingly recognize that Local Government leadership may now possess greater relevance and practical significance than before. The office of Local Government Chairman is once again being viewed as an important platform for development and public service.
Increased Financial Expectations: With direct allocation mechanisms being pursued following the Supreme Court judgment, Local Governments are expected to have greater access to resources intended for grassroots development. Where properly managed, this can translate into: Better rural roads, improved primary healthcare; Enhanced sanitation services; More effective primary education support; Expanded agricultural initiatives; Stronger community development programmes.
Strengthening Democratic Accountability: When citizens know that resources are reaching Local Governments directly, expectations for transparency and accountability naturally increase. Local Government Chairmen and Councillors may now find themselves under greater public scrutiny, thereby encouraging more responsible governance.
Revitalisation of Constitutional Democracy: The judgment reinforces an important democratic principle: government should not be concentrated at a single level. Strong Local Governments create opportunities for broader participation, leadership development and citizen engagement. Democracy becomes more meaningful when it is experienced not only in Abuja and State Capitals, but also in wards, villages, districts and communities.

(6). The FCT Experience: A Sign of Renewed Confidence:

The recent Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory offered an indication of the growing relevance of grassroots governance. Political activities surrounding the elections generated considerable attention among stakeholders and contestants.

Many observers believe that one reason for this renewed interest is the increasing recognition that Local Government institutions may now possess greater authority, visibility and developmental potential than they did in previous years. While competitive elections alone do not guarantee good governance, heightened public interest in Local Government contests is nevertheless a positive democratic indicator.

(7). A New Era of Possibility

It would be premature to suggest that all challenges facing Local Governments have been resolved. Issues of accountability, capacity building, transparency and responsible management of public funds remain critically important. Indeed, financial autonomy must be accompanied by financial discipline. Direct funding alone cannot guarantee development. Good leadership, prudent management and active citizen participation will ultimately determine whether the promise of Local Government autonomy translates into tangible improvements in the lives of ordinary Nigerians.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to dispute that the 2024 Supreme Court judgment and the efforts that led to it have altered the national conversation about grassroots governance. For perhaps the first time in many years, Local Government administration is once again occupying a central place in discussions about democratic development and public service delivery.

(7). CONCLUSION

History may ultimately record the Local Government autonomy initiative as one of the most significant institutional reforms undertaken during the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

By supporting the constitutional restoration of Local Government authority and pursuing a judicial resolution to longstanding concerns over Local Government finances, the administration helped reopen the door to a stronger and more vibrant grassroots democracy. The task before Nigerians now is to ensure that this opportunity is not wasted. If Local Government leaders embrace transparency, accountability and service, and if citizens remain actively engaged in monitoring governance, the result could be a genuine democratic renaissance at the grassroots level. A stronger Local Government system means stronger communities. And stronger communities ultimately mean a stronger Nigeria.

Respectfully,
Sylvester Udemezue (Udems).
udemsbackup@gmail.com.
10 June 2026

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Opinion

A Comedy of Errors of the Framework Il-literati

Published

12 hours ago

October 1, 2026

The Gleamer

By Kehinde Bamigbetan

The narrative is simple. On September 24, 2026, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development issued a press statement on the groundbreaking signing of the Framework of Investment in the solid minerals sector by Nigeria and the United States at the Nigerian Mission in New York, United States.

The statement quoted the Honourable Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, extensively on Nigeria’s expectations and set boundaries for the conduct of the joint signatories in executing the framework.

The most poignant part of his declaration deserves emphasis: ‘But let me be clear about Nigeria’s ambition. We are not here to remain a source of raw material for values that others create. Our goal is to turn potential into lasting values at home through stronger local processing, new skills, quality jobs and new opportunities for Nigerian businesses”

Witnesses at the event saw that Alake’s patriotic demand excited his guest. US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau showed excellent diplomatic camaraderie by acknowledging Nigeria’s duty to determine its priority in the Framework. He agreed that Nigeria’s demography and economy make it a regional power with huge continental responsibilities, adding that the US would support leveraging the Framework to advance Nigeria’s national interests.

Alake’s advocacy, by historical precedent and contemporary discourse, is as anti-colonial and anti-imperialist as could be. Were the country not festered by “naboobs of negativism”, it should have earned a heroic applause and hosting of red homecoming flags.

But a section of the commentariat, posing as the finest breed of the literati, had barely digested the content before invading the media- print, electronic, digital and social- with tomes and tones of desperate gobbledegook, unleashing its noxious hallucination and nightmarish schizophrenia on the reading public.

Please dismiss the adversarial calculations and manipulations of the firm of Von Batten- Montague, the official agent provocateur of perennial presidential runner and serial loser Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Its anti-President Tinubu lobby, from waking the Chicago papers to spinning a Tinubu-Trump meeting yarn, is a voodoo ritual of making corpses walk than professional political marketing. With an unprecedented $ 1.2 million budget, Von Batten is set to plunge his principal into a predictable Waterloo.

Let us also dismiss political opponents, Tinubu haters and confessed annihilators of the ruling All Progressives Congress. Their jaundiced, atavistic rivalry to unseat a progressive administration by hook or crook, including through misinformation and disinformation, calumniating propaganda and digital savagery, already places them outside the precincts of objectivity and fair comment.

The segment of our particular concern is those who pretend to diagnose and analyse, that is, engage in what journalists call informed commentary. This genre is critical to the press because it fulfils the Fourth Estate’s role in holding the other three estates to account. Media awards organisations such as the Diamonds Awards for Media Excellence, DAME and Nigeria Media Merit Awards evaluate its quality and celebrate the expertise of its most creative wordsmiths.

The reason is simple. Informed commentary is the unrivalled forte of the literati- writers, rigorous in research and prodigious in elucidation, yet literary in stringing words that taste sweeter than salt.

The golden rule of informed commentary is sacrosanct: facts are sacred, opinions are free! To worship facts with logical reverence is the literati’s exceptional trait, the traction that delivers their ascendancy.

Unfortunately, the tragedy that befell the genre after signing the Framework is that those who violated the portals and platforms of public discourse broke the golden rule by demonstrating zero fidelity to facts.. With selfish obsession to trend and gain folowers, the “illiterati” betrays a lack of preparation and polish for public discourse. The illiterati arrogantly and lazily strut and stroll across platforms, purveying fallacies as logic and falsehood as facts.

To begin, what in global diplomatic parlance is a Framework? Four decades ago, you needed a dictionary; a decade ago, you would Google. Today, ask AI.Gemini told me: “In diplomatic parlance, a framework (often called a framework agreement, diplomatic framework, or conceptual framework) refers to a foundational structure, set of guidelines, or overarching agreement established by negotiating states to manage bilateral or multilateral relations, guide future negotiations, or address complex, long-term issues.

Rather than settling every granular detail immediately, a framework provides the architecture and rules of engagement for ongoing diplomacy.”

If only the illiterati educated themselves, they wouldn’t go gaga all over the media, infecting innocent readers, listeners, and viewers with rubbish like a $700 billion deal. They turned a contextual information about the estimated value of minerals into a transactional contract!

And this is where the comedy of errors titillates. When I told a journalist that his slug insinuating a $ 700 billion deal was a fabrication, he replied innocently that it was just a caption and that the body of the story carried the authentic information! A slug, not a caption, pegs a story, and it is indeed an egregious error that both should differ in meaning.

He wasn’t alone. Unable to resist the temptation to attract readers with the big figure, a few journalists

took the figure out of context, giving the impression that Nigeria signed away all her minerals.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Delivering the keynote address at the just-concluded annual conference of the Guild of Editors, His Royal Majesty Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, counselled:

“In the old order, being first was honour. In this new order, being first with a lie dressed as news is a betrayal of public trust, however unintentional.” Wouldn’t it be refreshing to read the corrigenda of such media organisations tomorrow? I am sure all of us who still believe in the credibility of the media will be glad.

But the most notorious are content creators who latched on this ignorance to excite their followers. Their ad hominem fallacy leaves the subject of the Framework and tries to turn Alake’s professional pedigree in mass communications into a liability. They tried in vain to cast a character out of sync with his working environment.

Such impressions contradict the evidence.Such erroneous misunderstanding of public administration conveniently forgets the crucial role of the bureaucracy as the permanent technical corps of government. Alake is professionally supported by a permanent secretary, Engr Yusuf Yabo; directors-generals of agencies such as the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, Prof Segun Ige; the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office, Engr Simon Nkom; the Council of Mining Engineers, Professor Opafunsho; and the Executive Secretary of Solid Minerals Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Shinkafi. Besides, well-groomed aides tracking the strategic implementation of policies, a layer of competent directors who have honed their skills and expertise over three decades are at his beck and call.

With this array of intellectuals, governance is collaborative. Files are referred to specialised departments for interrogation, implementation and decisions are taken based on sound logic and verifiable facts.

Beyond the popular aphorism that journalists are jack of all trades and masters of all because of their professional exposure to all matters of public interest, Alake holds the extraordinary distinction of strategic communications and innovation, crisis management, and visionary leadership.

His political role is to accomplish the manifesto of the All Progressives Congress as encapsulated in President Tinubu’ Renewed Hope Agenda, cascaded to the Ministry as the Seven Point Agenda. In three years, he has delivered key agenda items, including establishing the Nigeria Solid Minerals Company and the Mining Marshals, increasing the registration of artisanal co-operatives, and raising revenues from N6 billion in 2023 to N70 billion this year.

The minister is most passionate about value addition, based on his determination to reverse the colonial baggage of unequal exchange. His advocacy inspired mining ministers in Africa to set up the Africa Minerals Strategy Group and earned him and Nigeria the pioneer chairmanship of that group.

The critics did not only confuse ministerial portfolio with technical consultancy, by presenting the Framework as a kind of sell-out, they display unpardonable ignorance of four decades of Nigeria’s pro-foreign-investor conversation. The Structural Adjustment Programme launched this policy in 1987 and codified it in privatisation and commercialisation laws. This policy guarantees full repatriation of profits to foreign investors and set up free trade zones as tax havens.

The beauty of our mining laws is that they have not thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Illiteracy is not just the inability to read; it also includes the laziness to employ that skill to gather intelligence for public discourse.

The ignorant illiterate have not bothered to read the regulatory regime that the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 and Regulations 2011 impose on mining companies. They don’t know that no foreigner can legitimately and legally hold a small-scale licence, an exclusive preserve of Nigerian citizens. They don’t know that the traditional authority or landowner must write a letter of consent before a prospective miner can obtain a licence over the area. Such built-in guarantees are beyond the conception and imagination of the illiterate, rendering their competition to outdo each other in poking fingers at the framework a grandiloquent exercise in cerebral vacuity.

Alake has enforced the mining laws to sanitise the sector and promote value addition. With his directive compelling all mining licence applicants to submit local processing plans, the value-addition policy has gained traction and attracted over $3 billion in three years. Lithium concentrates and gold refineries are springing up; the era of pit to port will end soon as raw minerals without value addition can no longer pass through Customs.

As we move into the campaigns for general elections, more controversies are providing opportunities for robust debates. Democracy needs enlightened discourses, not an aggressive parade of ignorance. The lesson from the Framework controversy is the need to understand what we reject even more than what we accept.

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