Public Affairs Analyst

  President Bola Tinubu last Wednesday, July 24, 2024, brought the number of development commissions in Nigeria to four by signing the North-West and South-East Development Commissions bills into law. Recall that the Niger Delta Development Commission was the first to be established in 2000 with the core mandate of bringing development to the oil-producing states of Nigeria. This was followed by the setting up of the North East Development Commission in 2017. Muhammadu Buhari assented to the North East Development Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2017 in October of that year. The then Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang, made this known in a statement. According to him, the Act establishes the North East Development Commission. He noted that the commission had the mandate to receive and manage funds allocated by the Federal Government and international donor agencies for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and recon...

  I was shocked to learn that the Nigerian Senate is planning to establish a federal agency for the conduct of local government elections. The bill, sponsored by Senator Sani Musa (All Progressives Congress, Niger East), is titled, “Local Government Independent Electoral Commission (Establishment) Bill, 2024 (SB. 531).” It passed the first reading at the plenary on Thursday, July 18, 2024. The draft bill read in part, “To establish the National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission responsible for conducting elections to the office of the local government chairman and councillors, and any other matter thereof to do with local government as a third tier of government. The National Independent Local Government Electoral Commission is hereby established as an autonomous body mandated to organise, oversee, and conduct elections for the offices of local government chairman and councillors across all states.” The proposed legislation listed the functions and powers of NIL...

  “It is the position of this court that the federation can pay local governments allocations directly to the local governments or through the states. In this case, since paying them through the states has not worked, justice demands that local governments allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the local governments,” – Justice Emmanuel Agim on Thursday, July 11, 2024. Nigeria’s federation rests on a tripod: federal, state and local governments. However, over the years, local governments have operated as a mere appendage of the state government. By virtue of Section 162 (6) of the 1999 Constitution that created a joint state/ local government account, state governors spend money due to local government on their behalf. They award contracts on behalf of LGs in their states and make any other deductions they deem fit. Local government administration has been left comatose as workers of LGs are owed a backlog of salaries, sometimes up to a y...

  “To enable Nigeria to finally take advantage of livestock farming, we have seen the solution and opportunity for this adversity that has plagued us over the years and I believe the prosperity is here in our hands.” – President Bola Tinubu while announcing the creation of Federal Ministry of Livestock Development on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Introduction On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, President Bola Tinubu announced the creation of Federal Ministry of Livestock Development. Following the approval, he said the Federal Government is fully prepared to cover the cost of acquiring lands to ensure the peaceful co-existence of pastoralists and farmers. This came as he inaugurated the Renewed Hope livestock reform implementation committee at the State House, Abuja. While President Tinubu will chair the committee, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Attahiru Jega, is the deputy chairman. The committee is expected to propose recommendations aimed at fostering a ...

  Campaign finance is a sub-set of party finance. “Money is the mother’s milk of politics’’, according to a devotee of politics and power, Jesse Unruh. Tell me, what is done for free in politics? You’re expected to pay membership dues, levies, or fees as may be charged by your political party from time to time. If you’re going to contest for any political office within the party structure or general elections, during the party primaries, you’re expected to pay ‘Expression of Interest and Nomination’ Fees which in some political parties, especially the dominant ones, run into millions of naira. No serious contender in an electoral contest goes to see party delegates empty-handed. You have to give them ‘kola’, which may be millions or naira or even foreign currencies, as was witnessed in the lead-up to the 2023 General Elections. Party stalwarts, especially members of the board, National Executive Committee and National Working Committee, have to be “settled” if you want them to en...