A REVIEW OF NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT’S REGULATORY EFFORTS TO ENHANCE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY

Abstract

The issue of Local Government (LG) autonomy has been a very important matter for the LG system in Nigeria. This has thus attracted the attention of many writers and scholars mainly because the local governments (LGs) have anchored their ineffectiveness largely on inadequate autonomy granted to them. This study is an extensive work on the matter. It found that a number of checks and balances, through constitutional, legal and administrative provisions and procedures, have been put in place to enhance LG autonomy in Nigeria. Ironically, however, this study has found also that little or no respect is accorded many of the above provisions and guidelines by the higher-level governments (state and federal). The constitutional and legal provisions and administrative guidelines are far from being implemented. For example, the local government councils (LGCs) have been dissolved twice (2002 and 2007) between 1999 and 2007, even when the country has successfully transited twice from one democratic regime to another. The state governments have hardly met the regulatory requirement of allocating 10% of their internal revenue generation to LGs, while on the other hand interfering with LGs' statutory allocation from the federation account. All these considerably weaken LG autonomy in Nigeria. To ameliorate the situation, the paper recommends a number of measures, including respect for and abiding by the constitutional, legal and administrative arrangements by all tiers of government. It is also advised that LGs should work harder to institutionalize their autonomy by the level of development which they engender.