Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria

Inyokwe Sunday Otinche

doi:doi:10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria

Inyokwe Sunday Otinche

Published in Journal of Public Policy and Administration (Volume 7, Issue 2)

Received: 18 July 2022 Accepted: 8 August 2022 Published: 6 June 2023

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Abstract

The paper examines the logic of decentralization and local governance in Nigeria with a hint on its constitutionality and contributions to nation building. Emerging facts reveals that Nigeria operates a centralized and decentralized system of governance and state administration. This is confirmed by its federal nature, division of state administration into federal, state and local government, state power into exclusive (federal), concurrent (federal and state) and residual powers (local government), and the allocation and distribution of fiscal responsibilities and benefits along vertical and horizontal lines by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the 1999 constitution. Data generated from the Federal Responsibility Act 2007 shows that the federal government gets 52.68%, the 36 state governments get 26.72% and the 774 local government councils get 20.60% fund allocation from the pool of distributive resources domiciled in the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account of Nigeria. Analytical evidences are also drawn from other secondary sources of information to confirm the abuse of the tenets of political and administrative decentralization through the instrumentality of the State-Joint-Local Government Account and the Caretaker Committee System. The dialectics of undue political interference in the management of local government affairs by the state government and the use of the Caretaker Committee system as a governing structure at the local government level reveals the threat it poses to leadership development, liberal democratic growth, local governance and nation building. These conclusively undermine the tenets of true federalism, decentralization, local government autonomy and the statutory powers and authority of elected local government councils to initiate and manage local development visions and initiatives. The need to place a balance between avoidable political control and local government autonomy as pathways to promoting genuine decentralization, participatory local governance and grass root development is strongly advocated.

Published in	Journal of Public Policy and Administration (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
Page(s)	39-48
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Decentralization, Local Governance, Rule of Law, Autonomy, Caretaker Committee, Nation Building

References

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APA Style

Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. (2023). Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 7(2), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. J. Public Policy Adm. 2023, 7(2), 39-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. J Public Policy Adm. 2023;7(2):39-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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@article{10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12,
  author = {Inyokwe Sunday Otinche},
  title = {Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria},
  journal = {Journal of Public Policy and Administration},
  volume = {7},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-48},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jppa.20230702.12},
  abstract = {The paper examines the logic of decentralization and local governance in Nigeria with a hint on its constitutionality and contributions to nation building. Emerging facts reveals that Nigeria operates a centralized and decentralized system of governance and state administration. This is confirmed by its federal nature, division of state administration into federal, state and local government, state power into exclusive (federal), concurrent (federal and state) and residual powers (local government), and the allocation and distribution of fiscal responsibilities and benefits along vertical and horizontal lines by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the 1999 constitution. Data generated from the Federal Responsibility Act 2007 shows that the federal government gets 52.68%, the 36 state governments get 26.72% and the 774 local government councils get 20.60% fund allocation from the pool of distributive resources domiciled in the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account of Nigeria. Analytical evidences are also drawn from other secondary sources of information to confirm the abuse of the tenets of political and administrative decentralization through the instrumentality of the State-Joint-Local Government Account and the Caretaker Committee System. The dialectics of undue political interference in the management of local government affairs by the state government and the use of the Caretaker Committee system as a governing structure at the local government level reveals the threat it poses to leadership development, liberal democratic growth, local governance and nation building. These conclusively undermine the tenets of true federalism, decentralization, local government autonomy and the statutory powers and authority of elected local government councils to initiate and manage local development visions and initiatives. The need to place a balance between avoidable political control and local government autonomy as pathways to promoting genuine decentralization, participatory local governance and grass root development is strongly advocated.},
 year = {2023}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria
AU  - Inyokwe Sunday Otinche
Y1  - 2023/06/06
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
T2  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
JF  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
JO  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
SP  - 39
EP  - 48
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2640-2696
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
AB  - The paper examines the logic of decentralization and local governance in Nigeria with a hint on its constitutionality and contributions to nation building. Emerging facts reveals that Nigeria operates a centralized and decentralized system of governance and state administration. This is confirmed by its federal nature, division of state administration into federal, state and local government, state power into exclusive (federal), concurrent (federal and state) and residual powers (local government), and the allocation and distribution of fiscal responsibilities and benefits along vertical and horizontal lines by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the 1999 constitution. Data generated from the Federal Responsibility Act 2007 shows that the federal government gets 52.68%, the 36 state governments get 26.72% and the 774 local government councils get 20.60% fund allocation from the pool of distributive resources domiciled in the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account of Nigeria. Analytical evidences are also drawn from other secondary sources of information to confirm the abuse of the tenets of political and administrative decentralization through the instrumentality of the State-Joint-Local Government Account and the Caretaker Committee System. The dialectics of undue political interference in the management of local government affairs by the state government and the use of the Caretaker Committee system as a governing structure at the local government level reveals the threat it poses to leadership development, liberal democratic growth, local governance and nation building. These conclusively undermine the tenets of true federalism, decentralization, local government autonomy and the statutory powers and authority of elected local government councils to initiate and manage local development visions and initiatives. The need to place a balance between avoidable political control and local government autonomy as pathways to promoting genuine decentralization, participatory local governance and grass root development is strongly advocated.
VL  - 7
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Author Information

Inyokwe Sunday Otinche

Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Federal University Lokoja, Lokoja, Nigeria

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APA Style

Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. (2023). Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. Journal of Public Policy and Administration, 7(2), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. J. Public Policy Adm. 2023, 7(2), 39-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

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Inyokwe Sunday Otinche. Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria. J Public Policy Adm. 2023;7(2):39-48. doi: 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12,
  author = {Inyokwe Sunday Otinche},
  title = {Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria},
  journal = {Journal of Public Policy and Administration},
  volume = {7},
  number = {2},
  pages = {39-48},
  doi = {10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jppa.20230702.12},
  abstract = {The paper examines the logic of decentralization and local governance in Nigeria with a hint on its constitutionality and contributions to nation building. Emerging facts reveals that Nigeria operates a centralized and decentralized system of governance and state administration. This is confirmed by its federal nature, division of state administration into federal, state and local government, state power into exclusive (federal), concurrent (federal and state) and residual powers (local government), and the allocation and distribution of fiscal responsibilities and benefits along vertical and horizontal lines by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the 1999 constitution. Data generated from the Federal Responsibility Act 2007 shows that the federal government gets 52.68%, the 36 state governments get 26.72% and the 774 local government councils get 20.60% fund allocation from the pool of distributive resources domiciled in the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account of Nigeria. Analytical evidences are also drawn from other secondary sources of information to confirm the abuse of the tenets of political and administrative decentralization through the instrumentality of the State-Joint-Local Government Account and the Caretaker Committee System. The dialectics of undue political interference in the management of local government affairs by the state government and the use of the Caretaker Committee system as a governing structure at the local government level reveals the threat it poses to leadership development, liberal democratic growth, local governance and nation building. These conclusively undermine the tenets of true federalism, decentralization, local government autonomy and the statutory powers and authority of elected local government councils to initiate and manage local development visions and initiatives. The need to place a balance between avoidable political control and local government autonomy as pathways to promoting genuine decentralization, participatory local governance and grass root development is strongly advocated.},
 year = {2023}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Decentralisation, Local Governance and Nation Building in Nigeria
AU  - Inyokwe Sunday Otinche
Y1  - 2023/06/06
PY  - 2023
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
T2  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
JF  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
JO  - Journal of Public Policy and Administration
SP  - 39
EP  - 48
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2640-2696
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jppa.20230702.12
AB  - The paper examines the logic of decentralization and local governance in Nigeria with a hint on its constitutionality and contributions to nation building. Emerging facts reveals that Nigeria operates a centralized and decentralized system of governance and state administration. This is confirmed by its federal nature, division of state administration into federal, state and local government, state power into exclusive (federal), concurrent (federal and state) and residual powers (local government), and the allocation and distribution of fiscal responsibilities and benefits along vertical and horizontal lines by the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the 1999 constitution. Data generated from the Federal Responsibility Act 2007 shows that the federal government gets 52.68%, the 36 state governments get 26.72% and the 774 local government councils get 20.60% fund allocation from the pool of distributive resources domiciled in the Consolidated Federal Revenue Account of Nigeria. Analytical evidences are also drawn from other secondary sources of information to confirm the abuse of the tenets of political and administrative decentralization through the instrumentality of the State-Joint-Local Government Account and the Caretaker Committee System. The dialectics of undue political interference in the management of local government affairs by the state government and the use of the Caretaker Committee system as a governing structure at the local government level reveals the threat it poses to leadership development, liberal democratic growth, local governance and nation building. These conclusively undermine the tenets of true federalism, decentralization, local government autonomy and the statutory powers and authority of elected local government councils to initiate and manage local development visions and initiatives. The need to place a balance between avoidable political control and local government autonomy as pathways to promoting genuine decentralization, participatory local governance and grass root development is strongly advocated.
VL  - 7
IS  - 2
ER  -

Copy | Download