An Analysis Of Militating Factors Against Local Government Administration In Nigeria

Abstract

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s democracy gathered in Enugu in 2012 to ponder on the issues and circumstances that have bedeviled local government since the advent of the Fourth Republic. The three-day conference on how to rediscover the local councils organized by the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) at Nike Lake Resort, Enugu lived up to its billings. With resource persons drawn from leading higher institutions in Nigeria including inputs from eminent Nigerians and persons from the United States, Canada and Mexico among others. If the ideas canvassed at the parley were implemented the local councils, in no distant time, will become an oasis of development. A common strand of thought ran through the avalanche of papers and speeches made at the forum: The local councils must be granted fiscal and political autonomy, and democratised to enable them perform their onerous roles of providing needed services at the grassroots to improve the lot of the citizenry. However, the speakers differed on the approach. While some urged direct allocation to the councils and abrogation of the controversial state-local government joint account, some opposed the idea, saying it might be counter-productive in the long run. There were also suggestions that the councils should boost their internal revenue generation and depend less on statutory allocation. Other suggestions include removing or retaining the local councils as the third tier of government. This paper seeks to add its voice on the need for effective functional environment for local governance by appraising militating factors against local government administration in Nigeria.