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Implications Of Local Government Autonomy On Rural Development
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Since
time immemorial, local government autonomy has been a discussing issue
among academic scholars cum researchers. Local government in Nigeria is a
product of decentralization and is established by law. As a federal
state, Nigeria has three tiers of government (federal, state and local)
whose intergovernmental relations (which include political, financial,
judicial and administrative) are mainly established by the constitution.
Each tier is required to operate within its area of jurisdiction, and
any action to the contrary is null and void to the extent of its
inconsistency with the law. This is meant to guarantee the autonomy of
each tier.
Generally, local government is a form of public
administration which, in a majority of contexts, exists as the lowest
tier of administration within a country. In a federal system like
Nigeria, local government usually occupies the third tier government.
Specifically, local government is a unit of government below the
central, regional or state levels established by law to exercise
political authority through a representative council within a defined
geographical area (Olisa, et al 1990). Local government is also
conceived as a system of local administration instituted to maintain law
and order, provide limited range of social amenities and encourage
co-operation and participation of inhabitants towards improvement of
their conditions of living (Emezi, 1981). From the foregoing
definitions, it is deducible to note a core variable like socio-economic
development which is clearly stated in the definitions. Through local
administration, the living condition of the inhabitants will be
improved. The role of the local governments as vital tool for rapid
socio-economic development of rural, and urban centers have taken a
central stage albeit without a corresponding access to prerequisite
financial resources to meet this expectation.
Socio-economic
development means pure and adequate provision of basic infrastructure
such as roads, clinics, schools, potable water and other communal
initiatives that benefit the people. Local government is the focus of
government efforts at promoting development through purposeful
combination of the local (peoples) effort/energies with that of
government with the objective of improving socio-economic conditions and
encouraging political participation is a key factor in rural
development. It represents the objective expression of the energies of
mobilized rural communities in concrete and tangible projects as
mentioned above. In order to enthrone better local administration,
local government has been going through various reforms aimed at
strengthening its capacity to effectively operate and play significant
developmental roles in national development process (Ogunna, 1996).
However, the current platform for local government administration in
Nigeria started with the 1976 Guidelines for Local Government Reforms.
The Guideline gave the present local government system its basic
structure and functions as a third tier of government within the
Nigerian federal government arrangement (Abada, 2007; Ade, 2012). Unlike
the previous local government reforms, the 1976 reform conceptualized
local government as operating within a common institutional framework
with defined functions and responsibilities in line with national
development objectives (Saalah and Stanley, 2011). Indeed, before the
reform, local government was merely local administration without formal
recognition as tier of government (Andrews, 2012). Very importantly
too, the 1976 reform initiated, particularly, the financial and
political autonomy of the local government that was further strengthened
by the civil service reform of 1988. As well, the provisions of the
1999 constitution as contained in section 7(1) and section 162
(paragraphs, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) are intended to also guarantee the local
government autonomy. The provisions for the autonomy, as they were, are
essentially and ostensibly aimed at protecting the local government
from unnecessary interference from other tiers of government and to
enable it play significant roles in the national development process.
However, findings from researches by scholars and observations by
practitioners, overtime, point to the fact that the autonomy of the
local government is becoming increasingly difficult to realize following
particularly, the propensity of the state governments to interfere in
the political/administrative and financial affairs of the local
governments.
Over decades today, various strategies and
methods have been adopted by the successful government of both developed
and developing countries for the purpose of good governance and effort
at distributing the state resources and implement them at the local
level. The federal structure of Nigeria inhibit local government’s
ability to mobilize and use revenue to meet their obligation in
sustainable manner (Adeyemo 2005). He further acknowledges that, one of
the recurrent obstacles of the third-tier system in the country is the
dwindling revenue generation as characterized by annual deficits and
insufficient funds for meaningful growth and viable project development.
The level of these relationships between and within the nation
federating units (i.e federal, State and local government) particularly
as it relate to revenue sharing has continually remained issues in the
front burner of the nation’s polity. The encroachment of local finance
by the state government has negatively affected the performance of local
government in terms of its constitutional responsibilities. The setting
up of state and local government joint account committee, local
government service commission, ministry of local government and
chieftaincy affairs and other allied agencies at the state level have
made local government financial autonomy a mirage in Nigeria (Wada
&Aminu, 2014). Meanwhile, Finance and prudent management are the
bedrock of effective functioning of local government administration. It
is against this backdrop that Asiwaju (2010) argues the local government
requires finance to perform their statutory functions; the ability of
the local government to do this is largely dependent on availability of
fund, coupled with efficient management which constitutes the required
catalyst necessary for timely execution and completion of their
development projects. Awotokun & Adeyemo (1999), however expresses
some reservations that; in recent time, lack of funds has often been
attributed as the major handicap which had hindered effective and
successful execution and completion of many projects at the local
government level. However, experience has shown the contrary that low
finance and allocation by the federal and delay release for local
government funds by the state government is the bane of local
governments’ inability to achieve substantial development in their
jurisdiction (Okoli, 2013).
The above analysis in summary,
gears towards lending credence to the fact that the encroachment of
local finance by the state government has negatively affected the
performance of local government in terms of its constitutional
responsibilities as noted earlier by (Wada & Aminu, 2014) thereby
hindering rural development in Nigeria local government system including
Ebonyi local government area of Ebonyi State.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This work titled, “Implication of Local Government Autonomy on Rural Development in Ebonyi State†A study of Ebonyi Local Government Area†was aimed at ascertaining the extent to which state interference in the management of local government revenue constituted the bane to rural development in Ebonyi State, examining the extent to which poor financial management practice in the local government hinders rural development in Ebonyi Local Government Area among others. “Fisca ... Continue reading---
