Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development

Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development
Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development

ABSTRACT: This research work is on Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development. The population of the study consisted of one thousand five hundred and forty-four (1544) local government staffs. A sample population of one hundred and forty (140) respondents was chosen from all the seven (7) department of the local government using stratified random sampling technique for the study. The researcher of this study adopts simple method of data collection involving administration of questionnaire in preparing this research study, the researcher also made use of tables and percentage as the basic instruments of data analysis. While, the inferential tools was employed in order to describe the relationship between variables based on the administered questionnaires with the use of analysis at significance level of 5%. The data analysis involves how the information was placed and analyzed. There are several ways through which research adopts the used of table and percentage in analyzing the research data collected.

 

Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development

Questionnaires were administered to respondents and their responses were analyzed in a tabular form with percentage as the basis of analysis. The use of table and percentage makes the analysis to be precise, accurate and properly structured. It was discovered that, effective local government system is very essential for the socio-economic transformation of Nigeria. Also, the findings revealed that local government administration remains the best means of reaching out to the people at the grassroots level given its closeness as well as immediate responses to the needs of the rural people. That local government administration is really a training ground for future political leaders is a welcome assertion. From the perception of those calling for the scrapping of local government administration there is no justification as only a meager percentage supported the idea, while the larger percentage of respondents from the study hold a contrary opinion. This means that, the idea of calling for the scrapping of local government system from the nation administrative and political history is a mischievous one. The ideal thing is where lapses are noticed, necessary adjustment could be made to improve on their service delivery. Local government system has been accepted worldwide as a necessity.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Local government as an institutional framework for socio-economic and political transformation of the grassroots in Nigeria has its own historical background. Its emergence as a bureaucratic establishment is regarded as a Western innovation, therefore alien. Though, the various political communities prior to the formation of an entity called Nigeria had their own native administrative system which eventually became labeled by the colonial administrators as traditional political system. This posture is viewed as discriminatory of the culture of the various ethnic groups.

The importance attached to this third tier system of governance has warranted its unrivalled reforms to make it more effective and result-oriented in terms of meeting the objectives for which it was established.

   
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Local government in Nigeria is generally regarded as an effective instrument for the development of the communities within its domain and for provision of social services for the local population. The essential function of local government is regarded as provision of services (Chadwick, 1990: 65). Its closeness to the local population makes it to be in a better position to provide essential services for more efficiency than other levels of government. This closeness to the people at the grassroots as well as its pivotal role in national development has made local government the focus of every successive government in Nigeria and has warranted its unrivalled reforms as far as institutional reforms is concerned.

The practice of local government administration is to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the local government level under representative officials, since it has been generally agreed that no central government can satisfactorily conduct administration wholly from the capital through the civil servants based at the headquarters. It logically follows, therefore, that there is need for a form of decentralization such that it will enable the government to reach out to the people at the grassroots level.

 

Local Government Administration and Socioeconomic Development

It is important to assert that before now, different forms of local administration and organization in Nigeria existed. But one important fact is that the first attempt of bringing about a unified form of local government reforms which brought about the first democratically elected local government councils nation-wide and granted them financial autonomy and a statutory recognition as the third tier of government. In fact, the year 1976, is historic and pivotal in the evolution and development administration and finances in Nigeria.

But the recent calls from some quarters for its scrapping from the Nigeria political system coupled with problems of inefficiency associated with it have been a course for concern which warranted the choice of the topic “Local Government as means for Socio-Economic Transformation of Nigeria using Lokoja Local government Area as a case study. Attempt will be made here to unveil how local government became an institution for the socio-economic transformation in Nigeria.

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Peter Hezekiah Lawson (Sir Pee). The CEO of onlineproject.com.ng. A reputable researcher, Web Developer, ICT Instructor and a publisher of many research works in Education.