Enhancing Local Government Autonomy in Nigeria: Lessons from American Model

Abstract

Local governments are sub-national entities created to facilitate grassroots development.
In Nigeria, the 1999 Federal constitution (as amended) acknowledged the status of local
government as the third tier of government. This status is based on constitutional
provisions and extant laws that allow local governments to exercise control in its sphere of
jurisdiction. The nature and structure of exchanges and interactions between local
government and other tiers of government determine its degree of autonomy. The study
utilized secondary data through content analysis approach within the framework of
overlapping model of intergovernmental relations to examine the structure and operations
of local government in two federations – Nigeria and United States of America (USA).
Specifically, the influence of local government over its finance, election (politics) and
personnel were analyzed to ascertain the reality of local government autonomy in Nigeria.
The paper reveals contradictions and abuses of local government autonomy by other tiers
of government particularly the state government within the parameters used.
Recommendations were made amongst others for constitutional amendment by the
National Assembly that reduces the power of the state governments over local
governments, adoption of heterogeneous local government structure as well as
democratization of more key posts at local government level based on lessons drawn from
American approach.