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Olaopa Seeks Reform of Local Govt Service Commissions
Olaopa Seeks Reform of Local Govt Service Commissions
Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC) , Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has urged a reform of the nation’s Local Government Service Commissions (LGSCs) for the effective delivery of governance at the grassroots level.
Olaopa spoke on Wednesday during the national summit of the Association of Chairmen of Local Government Service Commissions in Nigeria with the theme ” Strengthening Local Government Administration in Nigeria” held in Abuja.
While highlighting the nexus between local administration and service to the people, Olaopa noted that for the ” LGSC to support rather than undermine local government autonomy, several reforms will be essential”.
According to him, if the LGSC is retained, then the criteria for its composition will necessarily change so the new stakeholders and the LGs representatives constitute the core of its membership and leadership.
Similarly, the LGSC in its operation, he said, would necessarily change to create ample room for the end users and new local government chairmen and councillors to exercise delegated powers and functions .
According to him, under the existing system, local government staff often owe their allegiance to the LGSCs and the state governments that manage their careers and control them , rather than to the local councils they work for . He said this undermines the authority of elected local authorities and hampers the implementation of local policies.
He noted the need for the onboarding of the representatives of LGs in the composition of the new LGSCs. The LGSCs faces the possibility of being proscribed really, so as to allow local government authorities to create their own new commissions.
Consequently, for Olaopa, the alternative is for the LGSC’s role to be redefined so it is limited to setting of standards and monitoring while local governments handle their own day to day staff administration.
According to Olaopa, whatever service commission may emerge, and even if the LGSC is retained, the re-professionalisation of LGAs will depend on the degree of independence that LGSCs or any other agency enjoys , to make decisions regarding personnel management without undue interference from state and even local government new leadership.
Noting the funding challenge that hampers the effectiveness of LGSC, he said that this was despite the statutory allocation managed through the State-LG Joint Account. But he hoped that with the need to make LGSC more effective, this financial challenge would be addressed to pave the way for investment in staff capacity through training based on need assessment.
Urging government at the federal and state levels to overhaul the LGSCs, for effective performance, Olaopa said: ” Clearly, the LGSCs are caught in the dynamics of the high politics of a defining reform on which the critical players ( the Federal Government and State Governors ) need to come to a shared vision and understanding. It is only such a common purpose that will shape the future of local government system and its revisioning as a developmental model.”
He noted the need for the Federal Government to make some concession to state governments as stakeholders in local governance, stressing , however, the need for constitutional safeguards that would ensure a measure of inter-governmental partnerships that are enabling but do not undermine local government autonomy.
” LGSC certainly will be one inheritance that sure will be win-win for state and local government governments if reconceived with good development-enabled intention and with the collective vigilance of the FGN to guard local autonomy from infraction by state governments or others”, he added.
Chairman of the Federal Civil Service Commission ( FCSC) , Prof. Tunji Olaopa, has urged a reform of the nation’s Local Government Service Commissions (LGSCs) for the effective delivery of
