The 1999 Constitution and the Local Government Administration in Nigeria: An Analysis

Abstract

Local Government in Nigeria had in the past been effective in service delivery. After the 1976 reforms by which it became officially the third tier of Governance with allocation from the federal government, it was captured into the 1979 and subsequently 1999 Constitutions respectively. Since then effective service delivery disappeared in the system. The study set out to evaluate the extent to which the 1999 Constitution has led to the ineffectiveness of the local councils in Nigeria. The procedure of the study was descriptive design but triangulated by Content analysis of the various provisions on the local government in the Constitution. The analysis was done against the backdrop of Dudley Seers conception of development. The study revealed that the Constitution is indeed a hindrance to the effectiveness of the operation of the local government system. First, it prescribed a uniform system of local government in a country with different socio-cultural and religious background. It listed the 774 local councils in the first schedule, meaning, if local government must be created, the Constitution must be amended. It then made itself rigid to amend, and set difficult conditions for the creation of additional local government areas. Finally, it prescribed obsolete functions in the fourth schedule for the local government, which cannot guarantee substantial internal revenue to the local government other than the federal allocations. The study, then, recommended that the local government should be taken off the constitution completely since it falls within the purview of the States. It further requested for the review of the functions of local government to make them more relevant and effective in adding value to human lives since majority of Nigerians are within the fold of Local government governance.