The Search For Local Government Autonomy In Nigeria: Legal And Institutional Pathways To Its Realization

Abstract

This article examines the status of the local government under the tripartite
governmental system in Nigeria that has been in operation since 1979. It
reviews the various reforms that the administration of local government has
gone through from the colonial era till 1999 when the extant Constitution of
Nigeria came into force. The article finds that notwithstanding the provision
of section 7 of the 1999 Constitution which provides for a system of local
government by democratic means, many of the State Governments have
continued to set up caretaker committees at this tier of government, thereby
denying the grassroots population of the benefits of democratic rule. The
creation of the infamous State Joint Local Government Account has rendered
the Local Governments totally prostrate as they depend completely on the
State Governments for funds needed for their development. The article
recommends, inter alia, that section 165 of the 1999 Constitution should be
amended with a view to abolishing the State Joint Local Government Account
and making the Local Government Councils both politically and financially
autonomous.