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The Role Of Ethics And Public Accountability In Fostering Local Government Development
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Accountability
involves giving an account of action taken, and being held to account
for those actions. Public accountability is the complete and
satisfactory account of the stewardship of a public officer in respect
of the acquisition and application of the resources entrusted to him in
the process of executing public policy and accomplishing the objectives
in accordance with extant rules and regulations (Ekpe, 2013). The
essential premise of accountability lies in the fact that those who
exercise public power should be answerable for the exercise of that
power. Public accountability, therefore, is linked to the notion of
stewardship in the public domain.
Ethics and Accountability are twin
concepts which generally seek to safeguard the conduct of organizations
and society to achieve the desired human development. In public Service
Ethics and Accountability principles are enshrined in the rules and
regulations to ensure proper conduct of officials, corporate bodies and
government organs, to facilitate efficient service delivery which should
translate to national development. Ethics and Accountability therefore
places an obligation on the Nigerian Public Service (Officials and
Elected/Political appointees) to serve in a manner as to ensure the
wellbeing of the citizenry as well as societal development. Hence, the
need to investigate the role of ethics and public accountability in
fostering local government development becomes sacrosanct.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The
problem of unethical conduct and lack of accountability in leadership
with its pervasive bearing on social cum economic development in Nigeria
is multifaceted. Hence, a renowned novelist, Chinua Achebe, in 1984
attributes the root cause of the Nigerian problem to unethical conduct
and lack of accountability. “The trouble with Nigeria,†Achebe argues,
is simply a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with
the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land,
climate, water, air, or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the
unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to their
responsibility, to the challenge of personal example, which is the
hallmark of meaningful growth and national development (Achebe, 1984).
Developmental
research indicates that Nigeria’s public system is fraught with
unaccountable leadership, corruption and weak bureaucratic institutions.
It is an axiom that since attainment of political independence, Nigeria
has never been governed by selfless, truly transformational and
intellectually endowed leaders. That is, Nigeria has never selected its
best citizens to positions of leadership. Mediocre leadership can only
lead to mediocre government without any serious national growth and
development.
Unethical conducts brings a nation no good. The
resources meant for water supply, roads, education, health and other
basic and social services that are captured and stolen by a handful of
Nigerians through corrupt acts stultify economic and social development
hence creeping poverty all over the place. In addition unethical
conducts and lacks of public accountability undermines our democracy and
promotes mediocrity and bad policies made by bad representatives. These
translate to compromise of good governance and distort national growth
and development. It is on this premise that this study seeks to explore
the role of ethics and public accountability in fostering local
government development in Lagos State with a specific reference to
Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study examined the role of ethics and public accountability in fostering local government development in Lagos State having Badagry Local Government Area (LGA) as its case study. The study adopted descriptive research design, as a total of ninety three (93) copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents during the study; while a total of ninety (90) copies were properly filled and returned for the analysis. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the cause and effect fact ... Continue reading---
