NIGERIAN FEDERALISM AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY

ABSTRACT

The autonomy of Local Government in Nigeria has remained a subject of controversy since the pre-colonial times. This has made Local Governments to remain a pawn in the hands of politicians ever since. As such subsequent governments in Nigeria since the colonial times have toyed with the faith of the common people at the grass roots by the way they manipulate the structure, rules and the operations of this supposed third tier of government in Nigeria. The most manipulated aspect of the local government system is the rules that have guided the conduct of local government in Nigeria. Thus state of affairs has not allowed local government administration to thrive in the area of providing good governances to the people at local levels. This paper therefore seeks to examine the autonomy of local government under the Nigerian legal system in the face of the erosion of the autonomy of local governments in Nigeria by the 1999 constitution local government seem to be lagging behind in carrying out the duties allotted to it by the constitution, statutes and other legal precedents. A critical look has been taken at the laws and customs guiding the conduct of local governments from the pre-colonial and postindependence Nigeria with a view to discovering the malady and t curative. The researcher has made use of the secondary and primary sources of data collection research. The paper has suggested that some of the provisions in the 1999 constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria should be amended to allay the fears of domination of local government by the state governments and indeed stem the side of political inactivity and underdevelopment at the grass root.