Democracy, is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. It means the collective contribution of the citizens that makes up what is called the government.
Nigeria as a country practices the Federal system of democracy. This is why we have three tiers of government, the central, the state and the local government.
Power is being shared among the three tiers. Some items are controlled by the federal while some are controlled by the state. Issues such as education is run concurrently by both the federal and the state. Security matters is only controlled by the federal government.
All the three tiers operates the same modus operandi, that is, the three arms have the executive, legislature and judiciary.
The National Assembly makes law at the federal level, the State Assembly men make laws at the state level while the elected Councillors makes laws at the local government level.
All the above mentioned duties becomes possible under a democratically elected government.
The duration of elected officers varies among the three tiers. At the federal and state level, it is four years while the local government officers are elected for three years.
Election into the local government gives room for people at the grassroots to feel the positive and direct impact of government. The people interact with their elected Councillors and Chairmen at the local government level. Their immediate needs will be known and catered for directly. None of the elected officers will be re-elected if they fail to meet up with the needs and requirements of the people at the grassroot level.This is not the case when it comes to Caretaker Chairmen, they will only be responsible and accountable to the person that placed them there which on the long run puts the interests of the people at the grassroots on hold.
Since this democratic dispensation, l999 till date, we have only had genuine local government elections twice, from l999 to 2002 and 2002 to 2005. Ever since then, it had always been Caretaker Chairmen or an arranged elections. Caretaker Chairmen are being appointed to run the affairs of the local governments. This hinders total development and participation at the grassroots level.
When elections are conducted at the right time, people at the grassroots gets involved, chooses who runs the affairs of their local governments and this gives the people a sense of belonging.
Conclusively, records have shown that the impact of elected Chairmen are more felt at the grassroots than when chosen or selected by a few.
