FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Abstract

These days, Nigerians are bewildered by the failure of many Local Governments to carry out their essential functions. Some of them have not been able to pay salaries of primary school teachers for months, cities are very unclean owing to mountains of refuse left uncleared, many services have been taken over or are being run by State Governments, hardly can one find good or potable water in the villages, agriculture is hardly given any priority while many roads are yet to be opened up, etc. This is the general trend all over. From the foregoing, it is obvious that some things are wrong somewhere. Afterall, there were hopes and belief that the teeming masses in the grassroots would witness a new era through the fruits of the new system of Local Government introduced about 18 years ago. What then could be accountable for the noticeable lapses or for the shirking of responsibilities entrusted to the Local Governments? Why have they dashed people's hopes through non performance? Have the Local Governments been over-stretched? What are the sources of their funding? Are they inadequate, misapplied or even misappropriated resulting in non-delivery of social services? Is lack of effective performance due to untrained, under-utilized or inadequate manpower? Has the introduction of party-politics hampered development? What is the level of probity and accountability in the Local Government set-up? Have State Governments been cogs in the wheels of Local Governments? Answers to the above questions and to others unlisted will be attempted in the write-up to determine why Local Governments have not performed as expected. In doing this, Chapter One, the Introduciton, will deal with the history of the third-tier of government from its inception as local administration to its present stage of local government. A few books and writings on local government will be reviewed in Chapter Two. Chapter Three will examine the 1976 "Reforms", bringing out the innovations and viewing the performances of the local governments against the responsibilities assigned them under the Constitution while Chapter Four will list out the complaints of members of the public against the local governments and why they have not been able to perform as envisaged. The last Chapter will draw Conclusions and make recommendations for improved development or increased performance capacity of the Local Governments. In approaching the subject, I have collected information from books, journals and newspapers. I have also based some of my findings on answers to questionnaires designed and distributed by me to members of the public, particularly members of SEC 16 for their views on the performances of local governments and to, at least, two Local Governments in fifteen States of the Federation. I also interviewed officers of some Local Governments. It may be pertinent to mention that I had the opportunity, at different times, of heading two Local Governments, first as Sole Administrator and then as Chairman. My observations and experiences on the job have been of tremendous assistance in my approach.