On the occasion marking the 50th Anniversary of the 1976 Local Government Reforms at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Distinguished Senator Sharafadeen Abiodun Alli, APC Governorship Candidate for Oyo State, 2027, made a pledge that should interest every community in Oyo State.
He promised to guarantee full financial and administrative autonomy for all local government councils in the State if elected.
It was a timely reminder, delivered in the right place and at the right time. Fifty years after the 1976 reforms sought to make councils the third tier of government closest to the people, we must ask: Have we kept that promise?
Senator Alli described grassroots governance as the foundation for sustainable development. He is right. Primary healthcare clinics, public primary schools, rural roads, boreholes, markets and sanitation are not federal or state headline projects. They are local government responsibilities. When they work, life in Ibarapa, Ogbomoso, Oke-Ogun and Ibadan’s suburbs works. When they fail, the people feel it first.
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Yet as the Senator noted, political interference, weak finances and poor structures have crippled councils for decades. The State-Local Government Joint Account has turned many chairmen into messengers rather than managers. Budgets are delayed. Projects are dictated from above. Accountability is blurred.
The result is what we see: councils that cannot respond quickly to community needs.
Senator Alli’s commitment is clear and direct. First, his administration will pursue policies that empower councils to function independently and to respond directly to the needs of their communities. That means budgets that are released on time, staff that are managed locally and projects that are chosen by the people who live there. Second, he called on the National Assembly to abolish the State-Local Government Joint Account and to strengthen accountability mechanisms. This is critical. Autonomy without accountability is anarchy. Autonomy with transparency is development.
What the Senator and APC Gubernatorial candidate for Oyo State is proposing is not a new experiment. It is a return to the original intent of the 1976 reforms: to bring government closer to the people and to make it more responsive.
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If implemented, full local government autonomy in Oyo State would mean:
1. Faster Service A council in Oriire or Saki West can fix a broken borehole or grade a rural road without waiting months for approval from the state.
2. Better Health and Education: PHCs and primary schools can be funded and supervised locally with outcomes measured by the community.
3. More Jobs and Participation: Empowered councils can hire, train and engage local contractors, artisans and youths, keeping resources circulating within the community.
4. Stronger Democracy: When chairmen and councilors are truly accountable to their wards and not to a joint account, elections will matter more, and performance will matter most.
It was fitting that the OAU conference ended with the presentation of five awards to Senator Alli in recognition of his contributions to governance and grassroots development. The awards acknowledge a legislative record that has consistently prioritised the people at the base of the pyramid.
Fifty years after the 1976 reforms, Nigeria and Oyo State must decide whether local government will remain a constitutional fiction or become a working reality.
Senator Sharafadeen Alli has chosen a side. He has chosen the side of the ward, the village and the community. He has chosen to return power, money and responsibility to where they belong: to the councils and the people.That is a bold pledge. But it is also a necessary one. Because sustainable development does not start from the top. It starts from the grassroots.
Oyo State deserves councils that work. With this promise, Senator Alli says he is ready to make them work.
Tunji Oladejo for the BSA Campaign Media Team.
