Local Government Autonomy and Grassroots Development in Nigeria
Keywords:
Decentralisation, Local Government, Local Government Autonomy, Development, Grassroots Development, Third-Tier GovernmentAbstract
Grassroots development remains one of the principal arguments for the existence of local government across the world. The role of local government as agent of socio-economic development in Nigeria becomes more imperative considering a number of factors such as gross shortage essential services, the country's large geographical size, diverse nature of the population, among others. It was perhaps, based on this argument that the role of local government as provider of services at the grassroots became a constitutional matter in Nigeria since 1979. The Amended Constitution, 1999 also provides for a litany of responsibilities for the third tier of government Nigeria in its Fourth Schedule. However, the capacity of the local governments to play their constitutionally assigned responsibilities and by extension agent of grassroots development has been weakened by the encroachment of state government into the financial, administrative, and political life of the local government institution. It is against this background that the article interrogates local government autonomy as imperative for effective grassroots development. The paper further emphasized the need for a significant degree of autonomy as imperative for grassroots development. The paper advocates constitutional amendments to free local governments from excessive control by the state governments and restore the third-tier status of the grassroots government in the country.
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