LOCAL governments are strategically placed to drive development.That, basically, is one main reason the councils are captured in the 1999 Constitution. They are to ensure a bottom up development approach, while their share of the Federation Account revenue is guaranteed. The constitution also guarantees the governance of local councils through democratic means.

While the local governments in the states often groan under the yoke of governors, who wilfully impose their cronies on them in a bid to ensure local support, the local governments in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are not that yoked.

The territory is governed by a minister who does not need to seek votes before coming to office. The councils are also under the supervision of the National Assembly. Thus, they are assured of the best legislative practice available in the land.

But reports emanating from the six FCT Area Councils since the start of the current democratic era have been saddening as far as the running of the councils is concerned. It is true that the councils have been democratically run especially since 1999, but it has also become obvious that the people are not being served.

Revelations from the hearing of the Senate Committee of FCT on the councils in the last two weeks have confirmed a can of worms, leading to the issuance of a threat by the Senate to drag the council bosses to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Senate had discovered that the councils voted 80 per cent of their budgets for overhead costs and 15 per cent for capital projects. Virtually nothing is got as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Two weeks ago, the Senate was told that  that the Abaji Area Council generates the sum of  N2,000  annually from 40 market stalls, which were renovated with the sum of N70 million.Further revelations indicate that the Kuje Area Council spent the sum of N33,636,240 on evacuation of waste and N15 million on women and youth empowerment without details.

The central local government in the FCT, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), was indicted for misappropriation of fund for the procurement of Toyota land Cruiser Prado jeep and Toyota Camry for the chairman and vice-chairman respectively.

The rot was further punctuated by revelations from the Abaji Area Council, whose Internally Generated Revenue continues to take sharp, undulating dives at intervals. The council generated N27,455 in January 2010, N499,410 in February and N79,430 in March 2010.From the motor parks, it generated the sum of N2,900 in January; N50,410 in February and N11,000 in March 2010. The immediate staff of the council bosses are not growing lean, as it was revealed that the AMAC appropriated N195 million to nine personal aides of the chairman.

Perhaps to demonstrate friendship to a federal agency, the chairman of Abaji Area Council spent the sum of N125 million on 40 hectares of land earmarked for the construction of a trailer park which belongs to the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).A member of the FCT Committee, Senator Bassey Ewa Henshaw, was alarmed when he told the chairman, “This is enough to carry you to the EFCC.”

Another member of the committee, Senator Didi Ali,  who is the  senator representing the FCT, questioned the allocation of N38 million for provision of desks and chairs in some schools in the councils, since the same projects were undertaken by the office of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

The senators also condemned the allocation of  N729.72 million as overhead cost, N92 million for  sanitation and N11million on ante-natals; N4 million on Nigeria at 50 celebration; N11 million on community development and N2 million on furnishing on a Youth Centre  as contained in the councils’ 2011 budget.

The rot appears endless, but that is how far the senators were able to go. It has, however, become clear that the Senate and the House of Representatives must do more than unravelling these serial abuses in the FCT councils and federal parastatals for that matter.

If the revelations are as damning as the ones contained in the FCT Councils budget review, the National Assembly should not hesitate to invite the EFCC  and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission(ICPC) to duty.