LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION: COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Local government is not sovereign unlike independent nation-states. It is a subordinate government, which derives its existence and power from law enacted by the National Assembly. The nature and structure of transactions or interactions between the three tiers of government determine the degree of autonomy. Local government system is constitutionally provided for as a third tier and autonomous of the state government in Nigeria. It is on historical antecedents of reforms a recognized level of government. The 1976 Local Government Reform and the subsequent one in 1989 were geared towards making local government the bedrock for socio-economic and political development. Somehow, the 1999 Constitution of the fourth republic did not take cognizance of this expectation. This paper discusses the local government administration under the third republic as well as the fourth republic with a view to examining the problems that occurred due to the introduction of presidential system government at local government level. The paper relied on desk top publications as well as review of secondary sources. The findings revealed that each reform measure was necessitated by the short-comings of the preceding system; while some of the reforms had positive and far reaching impacts, others were cosmetic in nature and mainly for political expediency. The 1999 Constitution compounded the problems. The paper recommended among other things, the strengthening of local governments in the country through the granting of autonomy, especially financial, and political, as well as administrative autonomy. Finally, the paper concluded that since the local government remains the key institution in local governance, there is an urgent need for Constitutional reform by the National Assembly to back up the expectedautonomy by law.