Arguably, the babangida reforms that freed the local. Full list of local government in nigeria structure. Due to the exigencies of that era and in a bid not to rock the boat and create a situation. These provide the background for the recently launched economic reform agenda, the national. Each of the areas is further subdivided into wards with a minimum of ten and a maximum of fifteen. Many nigerians would agree that the federal government sponsored reform and reinstitution of democratic politics at the local level was easily the most out.
The study further showed that it was the 1976 reforms and 1979. Pre 2002 tax reform efforts the federal government had taken farreaching steps aimed at reforming the nations tax system before the pre 2002 reform efforts. Pdf native authorities and local government reforms in. The development of democratic local government in nigeria. The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge about state capacity in nigeria by taking stock of governance issues, including public financial management and civil services, and analyzing them in. The nigerian journal of local government studies, vol. The general objective of local government reforms was to transform local government organizations into organs that are autonomous, strong and effective. These powers should give the council substantial control over local.
With time and experiences, however, both governments and people at local levels. Gboyega 1987, a national reform of local governments in the country was. Local government is that part of the whole government of a nation or state which is administered by authorities subordinate to the state authority, but elected independently of control by the state authority, by. This means that local government has legislative powers just like the federal and state governments. Ifaturoti, department of estate management, obafemi awolowo university, ileife, nigeria. For any responsive and dependable political system, the development of the rural areas must be its major concern. Nigeria, federal military government of 1984 local government. Local government and community development in nigeria. The functions and tasks of the local government are prescribed in the nigerian constitution of 1999.
The 1976 local government reform in nigeria made local government as a third tier of government. Public sector consists of organizations where control lies in the hand of the public, as opposed to private owners, and whose objectives involves the provision of services, where profit is not a primary. Historical epochs of local government administration in. The current number of local government in nigeria is 774. The local government service commission has been empowered to handle staff matters.
The new nigerian local government system was clearly intended by its creators to be a representative and democractic system of devolution. The 1976 local government reform and physical planning development in nigeria. Some scholars olowu 1988, adeyeye, 2000 have distinguished local government depending on the political arrangement of the nation, i. Representatives of this organization collect taxes, work with telebroadcasting and radio, transport licenses, cemeteries and provides houses for.
Nigeria state and local governance in nigeria english. It started from the precolonial era 1945 of administration where the kings, chiefs and elders held sway over the governance of. Local governments in nigeria relevance and effectiveness in. The 36 states in nigeria and their local government areas. Exploring the nexus jide ibietan1, peter ndukwe2 abstract the main objective of this paper is to examine the nature and challenges of local government administration. The local government in nigeria is an indispensable tier of government in the. The study further showed that it was the 1976 reforms and 1979 constitution that formally brought local government as a third tier of government in nigeria. Local government as an agent of transformation in nation building.
Local governments in nigeria like many other states across the world are created and meant to bring governments closer to people at local and grass root levels. These are health, education, agriculture, water and infrastructure. The historical evolution of the local government system in nigeria dates back to the colonial era when it. The second definition is no doubt exhaustive and attempts to cover so much ground in explaining the meaning of local government. The white paper on local government 9 march 1998 the white paper is dedicated to the memory of tshepiso mashinini 19661998, chairperson of the white paper working committee, and all the other women and men who contributed to the building of a democratic system of local government. Local government administration in nigeria and the. Section 7 9 of 1997 constitution provides that legislative powers of local government shall be vested in the local government council. The 1976 reforms introduced a uniform system of local government administration throughout the country. View of local government administration in nigeria. Their abilities are usually very restricted by the central government.
It started from the precolonial era 1945 of administration where the kings, chiefs and elders held sway over the governance of their respective domains. The politics of local government reforms and democratic. In planning the reform of local government in nigeria in 1976, and deciding to give a status to local government in the nigerian constitution those involved drew on the experience of. It is highly debatable if local governments in nigeria have been able to effectively meet these and other lofty goals of their creation. Government at the local level exercise through representative council established by law to exercise specific powers within defined area. The state government sometimes delay payments to the local government areas and in most cases do not remit the complete 20. The reform also tacitly freed the local governments financially from the apron string of the state governments. Local government, grassroot mobilization, democratic representation, colonialism, federalism. On the other hand, nigerias local government reforms started much earlier in the mid1970s but the contextual problems at the national level compromised the. Local government administration in nigeria and the localist theory. Nigeria state and local governance in nigeria english abstract. Analysis the history of local government administration in nigeria dates back to the colonial era.
Although contact with europeans dates back to the fifteenth century, it was not until 1861 before the first steps were taken to establish an administration by britain. This statutory functions of the local government is very. The local government was made the third tier of government of the federation. The minimum number of wards per local government in nigeria is 10 and the maximum number is 15. Structure and functions of local government in nigeria. Nigeria state and local governance reform slogor project. In all, there are 774 local governments in nigeria including the four area councils in abuja. The 1976 local government reforms was the third in the series of the local government reforms ever contemplated in the history of nigeria local government. The local government reform of 1976 provided the guidelines for local governments in nigeria. The 1976 local government reform fixes the population of a local government not less than 150,000 and not more than 800, 000. Local government reform in nigeria the history of local government system in nigeria dates back to the colonial days. The findings proved that the various reforms before 1976 only encouraged local administration, and not local government. View enhanced pdf access article on wiley online library html view download pdf for offline viewing. Return to article details local government administration in nigeria.
Brief history of local government in nigeria legit. The 1976 local government reform, which drew heavily from the brazilian experience and which took firm root in nigeria local government was included in the mainstream of the countrys intergovernmental relations and administrative arrangements. Constitutional, legal and political problems of local. The local governments underwent their first major reform in 1976 during the military administration of general olusegun obasanjo.
The federal government was to fund the local government with a statutory percentage share of the federation account and state revenue went to the local government. In the light of this, in 1976, the nationwide local government reform was initiated where the local governments were saddled with more functions, responsibilities and finances. Though nigeria s rating in world corruption table is often contested, the government has acknowledged that the situation is sufficiently bad to warrant a frontal attack. The local government in nigeria is the third tier of government after the federal and state governments. The first epoch took place from 1946 to 1966, the second epoch lasted from 1967 to 1976, and the final stage started from 1976 and exists till date. Local government system is constitutionally provided for as a third tier and autonomous of the other two, the federal. Local government in nigeria is rooted on historical antecedents of reforms. These local governments do not have a lot of rights and most of its decisions are made according to the central government s rules. The reform was a major departure from the previous. The history of local government development in nigeria local government is literarily seen as the government at the local level. The study exrayed various local government reforms from the colonial era to the present government in nigeria. Nigeria as a nation operates a pluralistic health care delivery system orthodox and traditional health care delivery systems.
Land reform generally involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. The 1976 reform created large sized local government areas nationwide. The reform spans from the colonial period, especially from the 1950s to the military eras, culminating in the. National guidelines for reform of local government. We intend in this work to look at the various reforms that local government system in nigeria has witnessed since 1914 oyediran o. The new system of local government in nigeriabackground to reform. Orthodox health care services are provided by private and public sectors. The reform created largesized local government areas throughout the federation based on a certain minimum population requirements, these results in uniform local government areas. This is so because it was developed by a committee which set up to reform the nigerian local government system in 1976. These reforms and reorganizations have affected the system financially, administratively, politically and functionally. Public sector accounting is used by all organizations which are not privately owned and operated, but which are established, run and financed by the government on behalf of the public. Local government system is constitutionally provided for as a third tier and. Each local government area is administered by a local government council consisting of a chairman who is the chief executive of the lga, and other elected members who are referred to as councillors. The paper discusses native authorities and local government reforms in nigeria in historical perspectives i.
The objective of the state and local governance reform slogor project for nigeria is to improve transparency, accountability and quality in public finance management, with a view to strengthening governance in the participating states. However, the 1979 constitution, which provided the legal framework for the 1976 reforms, plunged the local government system into a crisis of identity, and ever. So far the local government system in nigeria has not been stable and thus its future remains bleak, uncertain and insecure. Article information, pdf download for a decade of local government reform in. Local government reform of 1976 nigerian local government. It may consist of government initiated or government backed approach to property redistribution of land as in the case of nigeria, an outright transfer of ownership of land from the citizens to the state. However, the provision of health care in the country remains the functions of the three tiers of government. The list below shows the states and the total number of local government in nigeria. There is thus, the need to grant local government areas full autonomy as well as increase its funding as it would help to enhance grass root participation in the development of nigeria.
The speed with which elected councils have been dissolved and replaced by caretaker committees and state appointees contrasts strangely with the constitutional provision that there should be a system of local government by democratically elected local councils. Constraints of local government administration in nigeria. Using a theoretical analysis, the paper finds that the combined effects of constitutional gaps and reform contradictions have rendered nigerias system of local. Local administration in nigeria has passed the four distinct stages of development. The local government reform involved decentralization of five areas that were managed by the central government.