Challenges of Local Government Administration in Nigeria; An Appraisal of Nigerian Experience

Local Government in Nigeria faces series of critical challenges like creating critical social services and how to sustain them. No Nation can boast of excellent performance within the public sector at the grass root if a large percentage of her rural inhabitants are facing uncontrollable abject poverty, needs/wants, socio-economic dilemma and basic social amenities. However in Nigeria, a series of social amenities at the grass root reveals that the third tiers of government are lacking performance in the area of service delivery, and over the years has caused the citizens to lose both faith and trust in local government, the closet tier of government to them. The failure of local government administration as an institution in Nigeria to solve ongoing problems of the people at the grass root further indicates a lack of contentment in the governance and consequently retards the closeness of the people to this grass root government. This paper looks at the reasons for the establishment of local government, functions and problems of good governance and accountability. Factors militating against performance of local government administration in Nigeria are articulated, areas of contribution to development are also identified and concludes that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be amended to empower Local Government authorities to provide the much needed goods and services for the people.