Kaduna State Governor may sack no fewer than 3,121 traditional rulers in many parts of the state if the recommendation of a committee he set up to restructure the traditional institution is anything to go by. The committee was specifically charged with Restructuring of district and village administration in Kaduna State.
The committee recommended the scrapping of the positions of 194 district heads, 2,927 village heads, as well as 643 council members and staff of the traditional institutions in the state.
The committee said that the restructuring had become expedient because “most of the new districts were created based on political considerations,” and funding them had become “major constraints to infrastructural development at the grassroots level.”
There are presently 390 district heads, 5,854 village heads, 399 council members and 1,152 staff in the 32 emirates and chiefdoms spread across the 23 local government areas of the state.
About 4,447 of the 5,854 village heads are not on the payrolls of the local government councils, according to the committee.
Of the 32 emirates and chiefdoms,10 of them are of first class status thus: Zazzau, Birnin Gwari, and Jema’a emirates; and Kagoro, Moro’a, Jaba, Atyap, Bajju, Gwong, and Adara chiefdoms.
There are nine second class status chiefdoms: Numana, Lere, Gbagyi, Kauru, Kajuru, Kagarko, Koro, Jere, and Ninzo.
The remaining 13 chiefdoms of third class status are: Saminaka, Kumana, Godo-Godo, Kaninkon, Fantswam, Nyenkpa, Ikulu, Tsam, Kurama, Piriga, Ayu, Takad, and Anghan.
The state government may announce the restructuring this week.
Hundreds of district and village heads have not been paid since the coming of Governor Nasiru el-Rufai administration two years ago.
The seven-member committee, chaired by the permanent secretary, Ministry for Local Government in the state, Ibrahim Sabo, submitted its report to the governor in January, 2017.
Other members of the committee are Abdullahi Sani, acting permanent secretary, Ministry of Rural and Community Development; Hassan Junaid, acting director, admin and finance, Ministry for Local Government; Sani Galadima, overseer, Chieftaincy Matters, Ministry for Local Government; and Emmanuel Ishaya Anche, principal local government officer, Ministry for Local Government, as secretary.
Mu’azu Abdul, deputy director, finance, and Murtala Haruna Yahaya, principal executive officer – all in the Ministry for Local Government, were co-opted as members of the committee.
The committee’s terms of reference are: to find out the number of districts in the emirates/chiefdoms of the state before creation of additional districts in 2001; to identify the current number of districts and justify the need for restructuring the existing ones bearing in mind the history, landmass, and population of the districts as well as the financial position of the respective local governments and; to come up with a modest and uniform structure for the district and village administration.
The committee was also mandated to produce a modest structure of the emirates and chiefdoms bearing in mind the history, size and status of the emirates/chiefdoms; to make any other recommendation(s) that will guide government to take informed decision(s) on districts and village administration; and to submit report within one week from the date of first sitting.
The report said the need for sacking of the district and village heads was informed by the fact that “the average total monthly income of local governments is grossly inadequate to cater for the average monthly expenditure of the councils.”
Other reasons given by the committee is that “the ever-increasing cost of maintaining the districts and village administration has been the major constraints to infrastructural development at the grassroots level.”
The report said that before 2001, there were only 76 districts and 1,407 village heads, adding that “the creation of most of the additional districts in the year 2001 and those created after 2001 were not based on a standard criteria, i.e historical antecedents, population and landmass but rather informed by political considerations.” [myad]
