Unfair allotment of Nigeria’s 774 LGAs

Nigeria’s map

At the time that Nigeria’s military Head of State, the late General Sani Abacha, created the nation’s 774 local governments by fiat, there were no current census figures on which to base a fair allotment of the local governments to all the states and the Federal Capital Territory. In effect, many states were allotted excessive local governments just as some states were grossly shortchanged.

Following the return of the country to civilian rule in May 1999, and the swearing in of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as president, some governors of the aggrieved states began to air their legitimate grievances over their allotted local governments but no positive step was taken by the central government to look objectively into their genuine complaints. Probably it was because the census figures that could be used to justify a review of the allotments were still unavailable.

When the National Council of States eventually approved the 2006 census figures which put the population of Nigeria at 140,003,542, it was greatly anticipated that the Federal Government would consider it as an appropriate time to review the allotment of the existing local governments according to the states’ census figures. But, surprisingly, nothing was done about it.

Consequently, the local governments of many states with sparse population continue to enjoy, to date, the huge surpluses of revenue allocations, while the local governments of some states with dense population continue to suffer from unwarranted paucity of revenue allocations.

For instance, Akwa Ibom State with a population of 3,920,208 was allotted 32 local governments, while Lagos State with a population of 9,013,634 was allotted 20 local governments. Likewise, Osun State with a population of 3,423,535 was allotted 30 local governments, while Kaduna State with a population of 6,066,662 was allotted 23 local governments. The disparities in most of the allotments of the local governments are patently indefensible.

Considering the multitudinous number of the existing Local governments and the unprecedented huge pay and allowances being taken home by the legion of chairmen and councilors, it is economically inadvisable to create additional local governments in any state now, or in the near future. As such, new creations will definitely increase personnel and overhead costs astronomically thereby leaving insufficient funds or nothing to cater to other essential services in their localities.

What the appropriate authorities should do to remedy the ugly situation is to retain the existing 774 local governments and allot them among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory in accordance with the 2006 approved population figures.

The National Assembly should, thereafter, amend the First Schedule, Part I, Section 3 and Part II, Section 3 of the 1999 Constitution, and any other relevant sections therein, to tally with the revised allotments.

I am convinced that a fair allotment of the existing 774 local governments will dampen the urge by any state to create additional ones, and it will undoubtedly pacify those states that were grossly shortchanged ab initio.

The simple formula to be used for a fair and indisputable allotment of the existing 774 local governments is to round up the total population of the country and the population of each state and the FCT to the nearest thousand. Thereafter, the population of each state and the FCT should be divided by the total population of the country, and the quotient should be multiplied by the 774 local governments. The answer should be rounded up, where necessary, to one or two significant figures.

Here are some random samples. Akwa-Ibom State’s population of 3,920,000 divided by the country’s population of 140,004,000 and multiplied by the 774 LGs is equal to 22 LGs. Bayelsa State—1,703,000+140,004,000 x 774 = 9 LGs. Kano State: 9,384,000+140,004,000 x 774 = 52 LGs. Lagos State—9,014,000+140,004,000 x 774 = 50 LGs. Osun State— 3,424,000+140,004,000 x 774 = 19 LGs. Kaduna State—6,067,000 +140,004,000 x 774 = 34 LGs, etc.

The Federal Capital Territory with the least population of 1,405,000 is entitled to eight Area Councils thus bringing the total number of local governments in the country to 776. But the FCT is largely populated by government employees and politicians hence its originally allotted six Area Councils are quite adequate and reasonable.

There is no element of doubt that the advantages of sticking to the existing 774 local governments and allotting them fairly will far outweigh the disadvantages of creating new ones at the peril of the nation’s economy

Although some states have created what they called ‘Local Council Development Areas’ so as to boost their ego, unfortunately, such new creations are not backed by an enabling act that could make them eligible for revenue allocations from the Federation Account.