Speech given in the Western House of Assembly, Ibadan, on 16 July, 1952.
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Part IV deals with the composition of the councils. There you will note that a council may consist both of elected and traditional members. This particular provision enshrines the principle which has been enunciated by Sir Donald Cameron and which we have adopted, that we shall develop and evolve, as time goes on, our traditional institutions, have to adapt them to modern democratic ways of life. You will also note in this Part that elections to the Divisional Councils will be from the District Councils and Local Councils where there are no District Councils. The idea behind this provision is that we may not confuse those people who are not yet used to the system of election with a multiplicity of elections. In the United Kingdom, elections to various local government councils are direct. But for’ these reasons which I have mentioned, we have adopted the system of having direct elections to District and Local Councils, while elections to the Divisional Councils will be indirect. I now come to Parts V and VI. These deal with meetings and proceedings of councils and also the committees of councils. I will not delay you on these Parts except to call attention to clauses 53 (1) and 53 (2) which may be regarded as novel but which enshrine what I call a very useful provision, that only persons literate in English shall be members of Finance Committees.
We now turn to Parts VII and VIII. These deal with the functions of councils, and you will see that a Divisional Council is quite free if it so desires to delegate any of its powers, subject to such restrictions and conditions as it may desire, to a Direct Council and this council will become thereby the agent of the Divisional Council. I will not delay you with the bye-laws. That Part only says that a council can make bye-laws in respect of the various functions which are invested in that council.’ I now turn to Part IX which deals with officers and staff of councils. I have no doubt that all Honourable. Members of this House are agreed that the standard of qualification and efficiency of local government staff ought to be raised and quite a number of provisions have been made in this Part which will ensure that those standards are attained. I will direct attention particularly to clause 84, sub-clauses (2) and (3), which lay down that a council, as a matter of obligation, shall appoint a secretary or a clerk to the council and may appoint such other officers as it deems necessary. Moreover sub-clause (2) of that clause, about which the Members of the Opposition always see red, also lays it down that no such appointment shall be made without the consent and approval of the Regional Authority, and sub-clause (3) of the same clause also lays it down that no such officers, as enumerated in this clause, shall be dismissed without the approval of the Regional Authority. This provision is necessary to ensure security of service for local government staff and to remove them from the influence of local politics.
Then I draw attention to clause 86 sub-clauses (I) and (2) which make provisions for the age of retirement of local government staff, under which an official of local government can go on working until he reaches the age of sixty which is five years more than what we get in the Central Government. I notice that those provisions are rather unusual but the point is that experience has shown that even those people who are supposed to retire at the age of fifty-five find it impossible to eke a living out of their pension and they usually find their way back into the Government service, and so the Local Government Bill, improving upon the conditions laid down by the Central or Regional Government, lays down that you can even go to the age of sixty at your salary but, if you choose to retire voluntarily as soon as you attain to the age of forty-five, or at any time thereafter, you can retire. Of course, I am already using the amendment which will be moved in Committee. The present draft Bill says fifty but it is going to be fort-five, when we get to the committee stage. This is more liberal than what obtains in the Central Government.
Now Part X – This Part deals with finance. One important feature of this Part to which I wish to direct the attention to Honourable. Members is that, unlike the Native Authority Ordinance, it gives to local government councils power to borrow money.
I will not waste the time of this House by elaborating on the advantages of borrowing powers being conferred on local government councils but if there is anyone who has any doubt as to such advantages I ask him to travel to Enugu and see what can be achieved by borrowing money to develop a town. Before I leave this Part, I will also call attention to clause 100 which lays it down that a council can incur any expenditure it desires. In other words that section seeks to give local government councils financial autonomy subject only to such overriding power as the Regional Authority may exercise in his control of local government councils.
Now I turn to Parts XI and XII which deal with Rates and Rating and also with precepts. Now the provisions of these two Parts, I must say, Sir, are somewhat technical and complicated and I hope that Honourable. Members will not consider me as insulting their intelligence or as being presumptuous if I attempt to try and explain some of the terminologies, particularly the two terminologies which have been used, that is ‘rates’ and ‘precepts’.
First of all, before I make any explanation of the two terms I will say that of these two Parts, Part XI makes provision for appointment of a council as a Rating Authority. It may be necessary from the start to have the three sets of councils in a particular Division at the same time. I say it may be necessary to do so, but, whatever happens, there will be at least two tiers of councils in any particular area. Then out of these three or two sets of councils one of them will be appointed as a Rating Authority, and will therefore be the only authority which can by law impose rates on the citizens within its jurisdiction.
To take an example, we may for instance, choose Ilesha Division. You would have the Divisional Council of Ilesha and then several Local Councils for instance at lperu-Ijesha. Or if we take another example from Urhobo Division.
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