The Impact of Local Government Administration on Economic and Social Development
Chapter One
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To ascertain whether local governments have any role to play in the economic development of rural area
- To ascertain the extent local government administration Played its roles in rural area
- To ascertain the constraints that militate against the success of the development process of local government
- To ascertain whether low morale among the staff of local government militate development of rural areas
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Local Government and Rural Development
Communal effort has not been a recent phenomenon. It dates back to the time of primitive communalism when people searched for their living communally. In the early state of man, he always sought ways of conquering nature. Bryne (1983:55) argues that the concept of community development is not new, that rather it is an old ideology. The reality in Bentham’s assertion that community development is a man in the society can be sustained by the fact that communities throughout history constructed and maintained their roads, bridges, square, sunk their well for good drinking water supply, and constructed their markets, village churches and village halls by community efforts. Lawal, (2008:56) community development is not new in Nigeria, that what is actually new nowadays in community development are techniques and methods through which new pattern of leadership emerges from the rank and file. Dare, (1989:38) in his own contribution argues that though local government is a veritable vehicle for community development, most local government have not made appreciate impact in this direction. He attributes the problem to the myriad of functions allocated to local government without commensurate financial backing. Ogunna (1980:44) attributed the low performance of local government to the following factors; inadequate revenue, low executive capacity, poor and inadequate working materials, incompetence and ineptitude of existing staff and excessive control by the state government which result in delays and red-tapism. The solution, he suggested, lies in the review of the local government system particularly in areas of financial relationship with the state government and personnel. This control of local government was made clear in the implementation, guideline on the application of the civil service. Reform in the local government service. Okunade, (1988:).expressing his own idea, state that the spread of counties has provided the awareness among rural dwellers, and has provided the existence for a concept of the process of community development and of project which have been set in motion since the United National Organization development its concepts since thirty years ago. Community development draw greater inspiration from the desire for a change and in the ability of man to learn and charge through the voluntary method, (that is, free from coercion) and through the participation of individuals and groups in the development process for the achievement of some definite goals. According to Sehinde, (2008:9) community development is: A process of education by which people of all ages and interest in the community, learn to share their thoughts, their ideas, the participation, their joys and their sorrows and in a large measures to mould and shape the communal destiny for themselves. It is a process of self discovery by the while the people of a community learn to identify and solve their community problems. A firm grasp at their beliefs and value system will throw light on what the community accepts as good and bad, as right or wrong. In turn, changes achieved by community effort can influence the beliefs and value system of a community. It is necessary to stimulate the self-help spirit of the people by mobilizing them for communal efforts, which should be sustained with the assistance of the government. Blue Print for rural development, argues that for effective implementation of strategies for community development the town and community unions, age grades, etc should be linked with government. This idea he said is to involve the community people fully through their union, age grades and other similar policies that are designed to improve their economic, social, political and cultural development.
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 effect of local government administration in economic and social development
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 effect of local government administration in economic and social development. 200 staff of Sokoto south LGA, 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 on effect of local government administration in economic and social development. 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 local government administration in economic and social development
Summary
This study was on effect of local government administration in economic and social development. Four objectives were raised which included: To ascertain whether local governments have any role to play in the economic development of rural area, to ascertain the extent local government administration Played its roles in rural area, to ascertain the constraints that militate against the success of development process of local government, to ascertain whether low morale among the staffs of local government militate development of rural areas. 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 south local government of 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 directors, administrative staffs, senior staffs and junior staffs were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
This study leads to the conclusion that the local government institution, if managed well is an effective and efficient tool of development. By management here, we mean that the local government should make proper use of its available human, material and financial resources.
Recommendation
After taking note of the problems and roles of local government in social and economic development, the researcher recommended that proper administrative personnel should be provided the rural dwellers. More so, the high level of rural-urban migration should be controlled or checked. These could be done by providing those amenities social or economic that attracts people to urban areas such as electricity, water supply, good road, improved agricultural tools etc.
REFERENCES
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