CHAPTER ONE
1.1
INTRODUCTION
Every state in the
country have their own several local units. This makes the citizen to have both
local and nation loyalties. Since the country is increasing both the size and
population, then the federal government become busy with issues of nation interest
and has little time for the development of the grass root level. And this leads
to the creation and delegation of the power to the local level to serve the
interest of the people at the grass root.
Local government
is also known as the third tier of government in a federation system of
government so in Nigeria local government home the power has given to them by
the constitution of federal republic of Nigeria do their duties to ensures the
development of the grass root.
1.2
STATEMENT
OF PROBLEM
In Nigeria it could be seen that local government
creation is taken to be something important and that is always agitated for.
Since the local government refer of 1976, those at the helm of affairs of each
state have envisage that the creation of local government will help in bringing
socio economic development t in their state and therefore, often put machinery
in motion for creation of more and more local government areas. As a result of
this Nigeria now has774 local government areas.
However, little is being done to ascertain how these
are doing. The extent to which the created local governments have not the
purpose of their existence cannot readily be measured. This problem is the
reasons. This propelled me to go into the study
Again, since the attainment of local government
objective is not automatic I fund it important for slowing down development in
the local government areas and coming up with solutions to tackle such problems
1.3
OBJECTIVE
OF THE STUDY
The study is
inevitable for the fact that different schools of thoughts have different views
on the important of local government as a tie of government.
Thus, the objectives of this study are to:
(1)
Determine the role of the
local government in socio-economic development of Nigeria
(2)
Provide information on
the function being carried out by the local government is third tier of
government in Nigeria
(3)
Find out the extent to
which financing the activities of local government have impacted in meeting the
need of its creation
(4)
Give insight into the
problems facing the local government and prefer solution to such problem
discovered
(5)
Look into inter
government relationship and the extent it has affected the effectiveness of
local government operation
(6)
Determine the various
reforms that need to put in place to order to strengthen the effectiveness and
efficiency of local government.
(7)
To know the historical
background of offa local government area of Kwara state.
1.4
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
Different schools
of thoughts have different views on the establishment of local government.
While some see it as unnecessary duplication of government efforts and waste of
resources, some feel that without it infrastructure development will be slowed
down, yet other are completely indifferent about whether or not it exists.
As a direct result of this, the research is important
to give insight and information on the topic. The finding from the study would
be of immense use of government in the
area of policy formulation, planning and executive again, it will be a source
of reference to other researchers who may be interest in this or related topics
in the future.
1.5
RESEARCH
HYPOTHESIS
The study will test the viability of the
following hypothesis;
(1) HO:
local government does not solve the socio-economic problem of people
(2) HI:
local government solve socio-economic problem of the people
(3) HO:
there is no relationship between local government and other tiers of government
(4) HO:
funding does not affect the function of local government
(5) ITI:
funding affect the function of local government
1.6
SCOPE
AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This research deals primarily with effectiveness of
local government as third tier of government in Nigeria since it is impossible
to generate information from all the 774 local government areas in the country
this work is limited in scope of offa local government area in Kwara state,
with the belief that the finding of study and be applicable to other local
government area in Nigeria
The information gathered from the chosen local
government will therefore serves as basis for demoralization. This is because
all the local government area in this country is identical in their objective,
functions and operations and therefore are faced with almost the same everyday
situation across the country.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
This
project is hindered by some factors, which include:
TIME: there was inadequate time to carry out the research because
of the period devoted to lectures, class assignments, and some other things
MATERIAS: as a result of high cost of text book and relevant materials
all reference materials needed for the research could not be obtained. As a
result the researcher used the few text books, journals and articles that were
available without affecting the quality and credibility of this study
RESPONDENT: the reluctant of some respondent to cooperate in given
their views on the topic especially in the area of filling the questionnaire
also constituted a limitation
1.7 ORGANIZATION
OF THE STUDY
The project is divided into five chapters with the
forms of general introduction of study which is the effectiveness of local
government as their third tier of government are of Kwara state. There is also
statement of the problems, objectives study, and significance of the study,
organization the study and definition of the terms
Chapter three deals with the research methodology
Like, sample and population of the study, source of
data to the researchers, method of data analysis and research problems.
Chapter four shows the brief history of the case study
which is offa local government, data presentation analysis of data, testing of
hypothesis summary of the chapter and reference.
And finally, chapter five is made up of the summary of
findings recommendations, conclusion and Bibliography.
1.8
DEFINATION OF TERMS
For there to be a local government in
existence there are some fundamental terms or characteristic which must be in
place. These include the following
(1) Government:
is the machinery through which the will f local government is formulated,
expressed and attained and this government is responsible for the regulating
the activities of the people in the state and local government or in the
communities.
(2) Local Government:
this can be defined as the break down of a particular administration in a
country in smaller units and this smaller units are for easy administrate
(3) Local Government:
can also be seen as the third tier of government of government of the grass
root level which bring government nearer to the people in the rural areas and
to ensure the development of the grass root government.
(4) Population:
this can be defined as the total number of people who live in a particular area
(5) Sovereignty:
this is the supreme power given to the state of local government to make and
enforce it own law so as to be free from extend control.
(6) Territory:
it can be defined as a particular land or area that is under the control or a
particular country state or local government territory is also know as an area
of town or local government which is under the control of some people so as to
contribute their activities for development of such area
(7) Tier:
this can be defined as area of the several levels of a system, administration
or government.
REFERENCES
Anyaele, J.U (2003)
comprehensive government for senior secondary shool Macmillan, higeria
publisher limited
Ayoade, G. (2004) local
government administration in Nigeria. A Nigeria and cornparative perspective,
New York Longman Inc.
Bajala H.S (1986): a hand
book for local government administration lagos B.Z commercial press.