IMPACT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON COMMUNITIES.

Whenever Nigerians are debating on governance, they are almost referring to the Presidency, the National Assembly or governors of the states. However, the level of government that has the greatest physical contact with the lives of a citizen is the local government. The policy developed in the secretariats of the 774 local government directs the day-to-day life, whether it comes to primary healthcare centres and refuse collection, market tolls and rural roads. This is an essential aspect of how any community should understand, in order to achieve substantial growth.

The Constitutional Mandate

The 1999 Constitution defines local governments with a broad range of duties. These are the primary education, the primary health, agricultural extension services, feeder roads, street lighting, drainage construction, waste disposal, registration of births, deaths, and marriages. On the ideological level, the local government is supposed to be the nearest source of the public good to the citizens. As a matter of fact, functional and dysfunctional councils differ drastically in the effect of its policies.

Maximum Benefits of Good Policies.

Where the local government policies are thought-out and implemented, the communities flourish. Take the policy of regular environmental clean up. Having a local government which implements a monthly clean up, uses communal waste disposal, and imposes fines on illegal dumpers will make their environment look cleaner. This directly minimizes the level of waterborne such diseases as cholera and typhoid thereby decreasing the expenses that are incurred by families in healthcare.

One more such good example is the primary healthcare policy. A number of local governments have introduced the policy of free child and maternal health services which is financed by the internally generated revenue and the primary healthcare under one roof program. The results are quantifiable: the increase of facility-based deliveries, better infant vaccination coverage and reduced infant mortality. A pregnant parent in this Society will not even have to decide between the fare on transport or antenatal care.

Agricultural policies with regard to the local government also count. A council that subsidises fertilisers to farmers, or makes rural feeder roads to haul out produce, or creating a produce market with a standardised scale, can reduce losses after harvesting, as well as raising farmer incomes. The economy is raised and food prices are lower.

In security, the local government procedures which create community-based policing advisory committees, install streetlights on dark areas that have solar-energy, and contribute to nearby vigilance groups have been demonstrated to inhibit petty crime. Those who live there are able to sleep without fear and the businesses are able to work later in the evening.

Ineffective Policies and their adverse effects.

Regrettably, vice versa is also frequently the case. The local government, which has an inefficient waste management policy or none at all, has piles of waste plugging drainage systems. The effects in the rainy seasons are horrific flooding and houses are submerged and people lost. The neglect policy is costly as compared to an efficient waste system.

Community illness or rather suffering is a significant contributor believed to be caused by corruption in the local government to implement policy. Due to the channeling of funds towards other uses, children end up studying in shabby classrooms with leaking roofs. The effect in the long term is poor education and illiteracy cycle. In a case where funds of a healthcare centre are embezzled, this leads the pregnant women to come across a shut clinic or clinic that has no basic medicines. The resulting effect is the avoidance of maternal and child mortalities.

The communities are also disadvantaged by bad revenue policies. Local trading is stifled by a local government that levies various unlawful charges at checkpoints most of the time posed by employed thugs that masquerade as officials. An example is given of a farmer who took yams to the city and was asked to pay five different unofficial fees. The effects include increased food prices and low production preferred. On the same note, a local government evicting working citizens by selling market places to their highest bidder is destroying lives.

The Policy Disparity Between Theory and Reality.

The largest of them is the disconnect between the declaration and implementation of the policy. Most of the local governments possess the lovely policies as gifted by their development schemes. However, the impact is zero as there is an inadequacy or misappropriation of funds, motivation of staff, and political will is short-lived. The strategy of constructing a single ward-based primary health centre is only on the paper and the council chairman redirects the contract to a son of his who constructs a poor quality building.

The other crucial aspect is the interference of the state government. State governors have the control over many local governments effectively, as they can dissolve them or cut their allocations. It is easy to overturn the interest of the governor when the local government policy counters it. This political fact restricts the possibility of local councils to meet the individual needs that are specific to the community.

What Communities Can Do

The poor local government policies do not stand up in front of local communities. The awareness is the first step. Citizens should be aware of the policies and funds that have been distributed. Freedom of Information Act is a means of holding to account. There should be regular requests by the community development associations, market unions and professional groups to receive records of local government expenditure on projects in their ward.

The second intervention is participation. The majorities of the local governments conduct quarterly town hall meetings but attend these meetings very loosely. Attending the meetings, posing questions, and presenting community requirements compel the councillors and the chairman to act. A community that pays its common voice is hard to be heard.

The third measure is control. The members of the community may volunteer and become part of project monitoring committees. Upon a road being awarded, the committee visits to the site, captures photos, on the progress, or absence of progress to the larger constituents and to the anti-corruption departments. Exposure minimizes impunity.

The fourth is the legal recourse. Community members may go to a court in case a local government levies them without consent or does not give a service as stipulated by law. Numerous verdicts have forced the local governments to include their funds. Albeit it is slow, the legal system route to justice eventually brings justice.

The Path Forward

The local government is beyond failure. The effects of its policies, both positive and negative, touch upon the lives of the Nigerians either directly or indirectly. Some of these reforms include financial autonomy, direct allocation out of the federation account and compulsory publication of council budgets in local languages and these would go a long way in improving. Citizens are not able to wait before the reforms. It is up to you to be careful of how the local government policies affect your own community. Hold the demand accountable, be part of the governance and do not accept poor service as part of what is happening.

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