Local Government Administration and Grassroots Development in Imo State: A Case Study of Owerri Municipal Council

Abstract

This study is an assessment of local government administration as an instrument of grassroots development in Nigeria, using Owerri Municipal Council as a case study. With a well-structured questionnaire supported with oral interviews, data were generated from one hundred and seventy municipal council staff stratified into three categories of top management, middle and low cadres. Employing the Spearman‟s Rank Coefficient as the main statistical tool of analysis, the study revealed among others that a significant relationship exists between the state of infrastructure and grassroots development in Nigeria and between the level of ineffective local government administration and the extent of job creation among the local populace. Further findings showed that a significant relationship exists between insufficient skilled manpower and the level of grassroots rural-urban migration as well as between ineffective local government administration and the level of grassroots participation in democratic activities. Following these findings, the study therefore, concluded thus: that the state of infrastructure is poor, resulting in low grassroots development in Nigeria. Similarly, the study inferred that ineffective local government administration led to poor resource management, which in turn impeded grassroots job creation, and that lack of skilled manpower fuelled rural-urban migration in Nigeria, while ineffective local government administration was a significant determinant factor to poor grassroots participation in democratic processes in Nigeria. Therefore, prominent among others, the study advocated for an upward review of the revenue sharing formula in favour of the local governments being a grassroots government closest to the populace, while sanctioning erring personnel who may be tempted to engage in funds misappropriation.