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The Nigerian state therefore created local government as the third tier of government whose objective is to ensure efective, measurable and eficient service delivery to the people. It concludes that problems of local government are multifarious in nature and the solutions for them should be adequate and practical in order to evolve viable and development-oriented third tier of government. The expediency for the creation of local government anywhere in the world stems from the ned to facilitate development at the grasrots. Such strategy for ensuring national administrative development and political eficacy is found in the concept and practice of local government. Whatever is the mode of government, local government has ben esentialy regarded as the path to, and guarantor of, national integration, administration and development. Central to the creation of local government, however, is its ability to facilitate an avenue through which government and the people intermix, relate and more quickly than any other means resolve or disolve isues that may have heated the system. Local government has ben perceived as a panacea for the diverse problems of the diverse people with diverse culture. The concept of local government involves a philosophical comitment to democratic participation in the governing proces at the grasrots level. A local government is a government at the grasrots level of administration “meant for meting peculiar grasrots ned of the people Agagu, 197:18 . Loking at the existence, performance and relevance of local government, Laski 1982:41 opines that: central problems, and that the result of problems not central in their incidence requires decision at the place, and by the person, where and whom the incidence is most deply felt Local government can also be defined as that tier of government closest to the people, “which is vested with certain powers to exercise control over the afairs of people in its domain” Lawal,20:60 . A local government is expected to play the role of promoting the democratic ideals of a society and co-ordinating development programe at the local level. Observations have shown that local government in Nigeria has not performed to expectation. But before reading into the problems of local government, we shal first atempt to iluminate the historical background of local government in order to have adequate grasp of its future and achieve deper understanding of salient isues raised in this paper. Regardles of nomenclature, local government is a creation of British colonial rule in Nigeria. Betwen 1930s and 1940s, for instance, local government was known as chief-in-council and chief-and-council, where traditional rulers were given pride of place in the scheme of things. During this period, heterogeneity was the halmark of local government as there was no uniformity in the system and the level of development was also remarkably diferent. The reforms introduced a multi-purpose single-tier local government system Ajayi, 20:70 The reforms also introduced population criterion under which a local government could be created. In adition, the Babangida administration increased the number of local government from 301 in 1976 to 453 in 1989 and 589 in 191. In sumary, it can be said that no public institution in Nigeria has ben so subjected to frequent reforms than local government. For instance, in Ekiti state, the tenure of elected local government oficials was reduced to two years. For instance in 197, the relocation of some local government headquarters was marked with large scale destruction of lives and property in Ondo, Osun, Delta, Rivers and Cros-River States Omotosho, 198:94-105 . Specificaly in Ondo State, the relocation of the then newly created Akoko South East local government headquarters from Oba Akoko to Isua Akoko was met with destruction of lives and property. Also the disolution of local councils in Ekiti State by the new administration of Governor Segun Oni in June 207 generated furore betwen the local council’s chairmen and the governor. So far, local government system in Nigeria has not ben stable and this leaves its future to remain bleak, uncertain and insecure. Despite the justification for the establishment of local government and its inevitable importance to the people at the grasrots level, this tier of government sems not to have justified the reasons for which it was established. The problems of local government are multifarious in nature and it is the concern of this paper to explain them in details. These problems include: Despite the increase in the total amount of funds available to local government in Nigeria since early 190s, its economic and financial profile is stil very por, relative to the development programe it is expected to cary out. Save for some few local councils in Lagos states and, perhaps, some southern states, local government generaly has experienced and is stil experiencing dearth of skiled, technical and profesional staf like qualified enginers of al types , medical doctors, acountants, statisticians, economists, lawyers, town planers, to mention a few. Low image of local government in the mind of profesionals who fel and think that there is no job satisfaction suficient to kep them at that low level of public service. Local government prepares estimates for its revenue and expenditure without proper recourse to, and due consultation with, the people for whom the exercise is being caried out to know their neds, their problems and potentials. projects are done not acording to or as demanded by the people but regretably in tune with the selfish end and agrandisement of the political leadership in colaboration with the senior bureaucrats at the local government level of administration. Coupled with this is the greatest bane of development in the Nigerian public service in general and local government in particular which coruption is. The degre of external influence and intrusion in local government afairs by the higher levels of government is worisome and neds re-evaluation. Situation where the state governor unconstitutionaly disolves the entire elected council’s oficers without proper investigations on spurious alegations is not god for the future of local government administration in the country. Practicaly, and in true sense, local government in Nigeria lacks autonomous financial power. The inherent nature of this problem has caused subservience, a situation where local government waits for the next directives from state government before the former could think of, let alone embarking on developmental projects. The major chalenge that local government faces is the political control the respective state governor has on the local government chairmen. This again creates a problem of diversion of local government funds for personal use of state governor. In Ondo state, for instance, there is this unholy aliance betwen state government and local councils in the state, where the state government constitutes Joint Action Comite, taged ‘JAC’. This in a way paves the way for the state government to plan for the local government and release the money in instalments. This undue interference has incapacitated local government from efective functioning on the one hand, and alienated grasrots people from enjoying social services delivery expected of local government on the other. While evaluating the problems of local councils in Nigeria, emphasis was placed on general indiscipline among the workers and high level of coruption in this level of government among other things. The paper argues however that the creation of local government in most cases was not based on viability and developmental purposes as required by the constitution but on administrative conveniences, conections and contracts to score cheap political goals and to achieve legitimacy and enhance regime sustenance especialy by the military rulers since most, if not al, of these creations were done by the military. The resultant efect of this is that some of the local governments end up in financial crisis and are unable to tackle the chalenges of services delivery and mobilisation of both human and material resources required for the functioning and meaningful development of the local government areas. The question here is: is local government the truly third tier of government or a ministry under its respective state government? While we know that the basic rationale behind the creation of local government is to met the peculiar neds of the people at the grasrots, it is however pathetic to note that local government has demonstrated incompetence in this regard. These include: The major purpose of creating local government is to bring developments to the grasrots. The section 7 of the 19 constitution that places local government under state government has made the former to be a mere apendage to the later. The implication of this is that, intermitent reforms and undue interference do not make local councils stable tier of government. It is however apropriate to sugest that the National Asembly should be the creating authority of local government as this wil rightly place local government as the third tier of government with ful direction and control over their respective localities. 20 “Local Government Administration in Nigeria: A Practical Aproach” In Ajayi, K ed Theory and Practice of Local Government, Ado Ekiti, UNAD Nwabueze, B.O. Ado Ekiti, UNAD The 1976 Local Government Reforms guidelines, Lagos, Federal Ministry of Information
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