Local government autonomy and development of localities in Nigeria : issues, problems and suggestions
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Date
2011-01
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The topical issue of local government (LG) autonomy in Nigeria in relation to the development of the localities, the raison
d’etre of LGs, has been examined in this paper. Proceeding from theoretical framework and conceptualizations for clearer
understanding, the paper discusses some dominant autonomy issues. These include representative LGs, the size of LGs,
revenue, and personnel. The paper found that inadequate handling of virtually all the above issues has posed some
challenges for LGs’ developmental efforts in the localities. Inadequate autonomy has been found to be the independent
variable in the challenges. Other challenges include inadequate finances, weak intergovernmental relations, fledging
democracy and grand corruption. These must be adequately tackled for LGs to make more positive impact in the
localities. Some pertinent recommendations are as follows. LGs need adequate autonomy, hard work rather than verbal
institutionalization, democratic consolidation, reduced corruption, increased discipline and application of the rule of law.
Description
Peer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso, Volume 3, Issue 1, Jan 2011, p. 67 - 79
Keywords
local government autonomy, Governance in Nigeria, Nigeria – local government
Citation
Imhanlahimi, J., 2011. Local government autonomy and development of localities in Nigeria: issues, problems and suggestions. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(1), pp.67-79.