An Investigation into the Prospects of Local Government Administration in Nigeria: A Case Study of Sokoto South LGA, Sokoto State
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To find out the constraints of Sokoto North local government in carrying out her statutory function
- To study Sokoto North government finance and its constraints
- To find out how Sokoto North local government related with other tiers of the government and
- To find out positive solution to the stated problem
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Evolution of Local Government Administration in Nigeria
The evolution of local administration in Nigeria is traceable to the early 1950s. This according to Chukwuemeka (2013) was the period during which the first form of local government reform that ushered in the anticipatory of local government in Nigeria was carried out. Before this time, the native authority and indirect rule system were in existence. The struggle to realize an effective and efficient local government administration in Nigeria has been a recurring decimal. To transform local administration to local government with autonomous powers, took several decades. This was due to the country’s colonial antecedence which sub-planted the indigenous political arrangement for the British colonial administrative structure. As Guyer (1992) observed: The British colonial endeavor in Africa, and Nigeria in particular, seems in retrospect to have tried to duplicate the English sequence over a period of a few decades, to establish central government and taxation systems on authoritarian bases, to promote the market using these mechanisms fairly ruthlessly in some places and finally in the last decades to allow limited systems of representation and expansion of the salaried local civil service. The centralization of power and resources in the federal government in a multi-ethnic and deeply divided society like Nigeria has serious implications for development at the local level in all parts of the country. For instance, in the Eastern, Western and Mid-Western regions, several local government ordinances were enacted to bring local administration to the status of local government. However, in all these reforms, real powers were not given to the people who ought to be the ultimate power holders and beneficiaries of the local government system. The conservatism of the British colonial administrative system and the nature of political leadership in the country made efforts at reforming the local government system difficult (Osaghae, 2006; Suberu 2004). . However, the most fundamental efforts to institutionalize a democratically elected local government system in country were the 1976 local government reform. It remains till date the bench mark for local government reforms in the Nigeria. It brought among other innovations, democratically elected local government system, uniform structure, regular allocation of funds and functions enshrined in the constitution. In spite of these innovations, local government administration is still struggling to find its feet. At this juncture it is imperative to x-ray local government as agent of local development as well as the justification for its existence.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study an investigation into the prospect of local government administration in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on investigation into the prospect of local government administration in Nigeria. 200 staff of Sokoto South local government council of Sokoto State was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain an investigation into the prospect of local government administration in Nigeria
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of prospect of local government administration in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on an investigation into the prospect of local government administration in Nigeria. Four objectives were raised which included; To find out constraints of Sokoto North local government in carrying out her statutory function, to study Sokoto North government finance and its constraints, to find out how Sokoto North local government related with other tiers of the government and to find out positive solution to the stated problem. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of Sokoto north local government council of Anambra Sokoto State. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up heads of department, counselors, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
Generally, local government administration in Nigeria has all it takes to provide the needed developmental apparatus as it affects persons living in the rural areas and the local communities in particular. It is pertinent to state at this juncture, that both the federal and state governments should shed their direct involvement and financial expenditure in favour of local government. Rather the two tiers of government should only allocate funds for the use of local government and leave the latter to run its own programmes with minimal over-sight function. The issue of Joint State Local Government Account should be abrogated. All the control measures and mechanisms put in place by both the States and States Houses of Assembly should be reduced to allow the local government authorities in Nigeria focus on concrete developmental programmes devoid of incessant interruption
Recommendation
Therefore, recommends that the firm grip on local government administration by the State Governments and State Houses of Assembly must be loosened in order to allow the local government administration provide the much needed goods and services for the people
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