Local Government Administration And Rural Governance In Nigeria

Local Government Administration And Rural Governance

Nigeria’s local government system was established during the colonial era and managed in a fairly undemocratic manner with the authority of traditional rulers. Local government has been working to become more democratic and responsive to developmental needs over the past year. According to Agagu (1997:18), local government is comprised of democratically elected entities tasked with carrying out administrative and executive functions pertaining to the residents of a given district or location.

According to Lawal (2006:60), it is a political and administrative entity with legal authority to manage a certain locality. The duty, responsibility, and rights of local government are also drawn from the national or federal constitution. Local government is tasked with meeting the needs of those living in local, rural, or grassroots communities.
A catalyst for local, political, economic, and social development can be seen in the Local Government, which is the third tier of government and the lowest level of hierarchy in the three tiers of the federal system used in Nigeria.

Politically, it is anticipated that local government systems will facilitate citizen participation in governance and bring development closer to the populace. Socially, the system is meant to promote the widespread mobilization of material and human resources in order to strengthen community and self-help development initiatives. Economically, the system is anticipated to ensure that the benefits of development initiatives are dispersed fairly in order to encourage a balanced development across the entirety of Nigeria.

Hirschman (1958) observed that patterns of economic growth and development are rarely distributed equally over the entire territory of a given state, but rather are concentrated at certain places, creating a mosaic of regions with varying levels of affluence.
Nigeria’s political decentralization process has persisted, and as a result, the country’s territory has continued to be divided into smaller regions in an effort to achieve social justice. The enhanced statutory funding for local government areas is intended to bring about a change in the level of fundamental infrastructure services and amenities, including transportation, water, electricity, and services for communication, education, and health care, that are offered by L.G.As.

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DECENTRALIZATION, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY AND GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT IN LIBERIA

DECENTRALIZATION, LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY AND GRASSROOTS DEVELOPMENT IN LIBERIA

ABSTRACT

The study investigated decentralization and local government autonomy and how these factors enhance grassroots development in Liberia. The onerous centralized system of government practiced in Liberia is thought to have impeded development and significantly hindered local participation in decision making. However, it is a litmus test to see if the Decentralization Policy initiated by the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration will grant local government the requisite autonomy to engage in development at the local level.

The study adopted a survey research design .The population of the study was the entire population of Liberia with a population of 4.5 million people according to the Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information 2008 National Census. The largeness of the population compelled the researcher to draw the sample from three counties that were purposively selected and a total of 395 respondents as sample size. The main instrument of the study was questionnaire which was tested with a reliability of 0.88 Cronbach Alpha. A total of 395 questionnaire were administered and 386 of those were retrieved for analysis. Data collected was analyzed with SPSS version 21 through descriptive and inferential statistics.

The findings gathered from the study revealed that the three counties selected, Bong had the highest (56%) respondents, followed by Nimba (35%) and Gbarpolu (9%) respectively and that most respondents had acquired secondary education (51%), followed by Bachelor Degrees (34%) and a few Masters. Also, the findings of the study revealed that Liberia has a centralized system of governance which has impeded development and punctured political participation in decision making. It was disclosed by the findings that decentralization is not an entirely new phenomenon; but its realization has been hampered by lack of defined policy and legislation. Lack of professionals, government’s commitment and political will were identified as some factors that militate against decentralization. Additionally, it was unearthed that the applicability of decentralization is assured as it builds the fiscal, political, economic and decision-making capacities of local sub government. Finally and by no means the least, local government was identified as engines of development because of it nature and proximity to those they represent.

The study concluded that decentralization and local government autonomy are two distinct, but inseparable precursors of grassroots development. The following recommendation were proffered based on the findings: there should be concerted effort for the three branches of the Liberian government should coordinate by increasing budgetary allotment to support the decentralization process and enact or repeal laws that promoted centralization; there should be attractive salaries to lure professionals to the counties and each county should have a university to groom would-be leaders of the county; information regarding implementation of the policy be properly disseminated to suit local consumption and there should be continuity of the policy because most policies died with successive government.

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Aug 30

Godfatherism and Political Conflicts In The Nigerian Fourth Republic 1999-2020

Godfatherism and Political Conflicts In The Nigerian Fourth Republic

ABSTRACT

Godfatherism and political conflict has become the dominant feature characterizing contemporary politics. Their role as a political phenomenon has impacted on the body politics of country negative virtues which are now potential threat to the relatively new democracy. Using Nigeria’s fourth republic as a reference point, this paper examines the effects that these practices have on the future of democracy in Nigeria. The paper notes that godfatherism and political conflicts, which have become a cultural element in Nigeria’s politics, are certainly problematic to the practice of democracy. It examines how Nigerian democracy has been characterized by obnoxious acts such as indiscriminately using money and by very powerful and influential members of the elite class, popularly called, political godfathers,’ imposing political leaders on the people. It suggests how the problem of political godfatherism and conflict can be eliminated from Nigeria’s politics in order to strengthen democratic governance in the country.

INTRODUCTION

The phenomenons of godfatherism and political conflict have become a plague in the body politics of Nigeria. There is an emerging trend in Nigeria which indicates that an intending contestant must have and depend on a godfather with the requisite wealth and power to get him into elective office. The implication is that contestants no longer rely on their popularity among the electorates but on their chosen godfathers to help them secure electoral victories.

Godfatherism is not new in Nigerian politics. It has only assumed a new form under the fourth republic democracy, partly because the Nigerian economy is still at the primitive stage of capital accumulation by the renters and commissioned agents with little or no productive capacities. Politics therefore is the only means of reaching out at the state resources. This phenomenon has trampled on the basic principle of democracy and has encouraged the failure of necessary structures and institutions to act decisively at correcting the anomalies. Godfatherism in Nigeria is therefore a manifestation of a societal decay. It has become a pestilence to the practice of a true democracy in Nigeria (Edigin, 2010).

Godfatherism has become a factor in Nigerian politics such that very few politicians can achieve success without the stalwart support of godfathers. In Nigeria, the desire of individuals to rule at all cost has sold political leadership to the highest bidders, as whopping sums of money are needed for electoral manipulation. Therefore, desperate politicians who wish to win elections usually seek after godfathers. The implication of this in Nigerian politics is that the country is yet to make appreciable progress in transparent governance because godfathers usually create setback, which hinders democratic growth and development in Nigeria (Edigin, 2010).

One of the prevailing fundamental and sensitive issues in Nigerian politics that cannot be ignored is godfatherism. The political relationship under successive governments in Nigeria is a reflection of the international economic order, which facilitates the pursuit or regime change by avaricious godfather whose major pre-occupation is to perpetuate their hegemonic political influence for personal interest and aggrandizement (Osuntokun, 2003). Conflict and political godfatherism have undoubtedly ruined democratic governance in Nigeria.

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Aug 20

Impact of globalization and political socialization of Youths in Nigeria

Impact of globalization and political socialization of Youths in the contemporary modern time. A study of Nigeria

Chapter one/Introduction

Political socialization has been defined as “the long developmental process by which an infant (even an adult) citizen learns, imbibes and indeed internalizes the political culture (core political values, beliefs, norms and ideology) of his political system so as to make meaning of the world around him (Ofoeze, 2001:13). The implication is that political socialization is “the process of induction into a political system” (Marshall, 1996:400). Thus, the enduring norms, values, beliefs and attitudes that are supportive of the political power system and which are transmitted from one generation to the other is referred to as the political culture. One of the most important agencies of political socialization is the political party. Apart from carrying on the vital function of political socialization, the political parties also perform such functions like interest articulation, interest aggregation, building political culture, political education, and political leadership recruitment, among many other latent functions.

The globalization process of political socialization in Nigeria is an offshoot of internet communication technology. Globalization involves economic integration; the transfer of policies across borders; the transmission of knowledge; cultural stability; the reproduction, relations, discourse of power; a global process, a concept; a revolution and an establishment of the global market free from sociopolitical control. It has helped to liberalize national economics by creating a global market place in which all the nations must participate directly. The existence of global markets leads to growing activities and international investments in different countries.

The speed at which the effect of globalization is spreading is fast day-by-day and no nation can afford to be behind if such a nation is to maintain acceptance rate of growth and development. It also observed that the growing impact of two major distinct global trends, which has profound implication on the world economy, are rapid growth of information technology and the increased global trade integration (Dani. 1999). At present, information technology has advanced to a level of rendering distance irrelevant because one can stay in Nigeria and communicate to any part of the world, using telephone or Internet services

The activities in the global economy for over five years show a challenge in the utilization of the opportunities engineered by globalization, while at the same time managing the problem and tension it poses. As some authors support and identify the opportunities of globalization, others express fear about globalization. It was because of fear anticipated by the people of the world that the world Treaty organization held a meeting in December, 1999 at Seattle, U.S.A, which was interrupted by riot (Garry, 1998). The demonstrators feared there could be negative effects of globalization on the people and the economic growth. This article concentrates on the examination of the effects of globalization on the Nigerian Youths and the economy. It identified the positive and negative effects of globalization on the public and Youths in particular.

Statement of the Problem

Objectives of the study

Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is on the impact of globalization and political socialization of Youths in Nigeria. The study location is Nigeria only.

Limitations of the study

The following were the limitations of the study

1.Some respondents who were not willing to provide full information for fear of being reprimanded by their managers for giving out information that they consider confidential. However the researcher assured the respondents of the confidentiality of the information that they would provide and will sough authority from the management to undertake research.

2.Access to accurate information due to respondents’ divided attention to questionnaires, desire to safeguard the reputation of the organisation thus hindering information dispatch. Legal and ethical requirements when dealing with respondents hindered cooperation from the respondents; this was mitigated through timely familiarization with the respondents and creating a friendly environment of trust and mutual benefit.Download Full Material-N5000

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Local Government Administration And Rural Governance In Nigeria