NOTES( PPM105 )

THE IDEA OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

THE PLACE OF LOCAL GOVERNEMENT

Local Government is the closest tier of government to the people. In a unitary system, power is
shared between the Central Government and local government. In a Federal system power is shared
between Federal-State and Local Governments. Generally we talk of a central-local relationship. In a
Federal system however, the relationship is largely between the state or regional government and
local government because, constitutionally local government are within the constitution mandates
of the state or regional governments. Basically, in any system local governments are created to
decongest the functions and burden of central governments and to provide services that are local in
character.

THE NEED FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The need for local government may be stated specifically as follows:

a) It is more democratic. This is referring to the fact that it increases the scope for citizenship
participation in the government of their locality.

b) It provides valuable political education. This type of education expose citizens to power and
authority – it s acquisition, its use and its risk.

c) It trains people for higher public offices. Local Government becomes a platform or a springboard
for acquiring experiences for higher career in government.

d) Local knowledge is brought to bear on decision by local government.

e) It is more sensitive to local opinion. Councillors and representatives are closer to the people and
respond much easily to their demands or to be voted out.

f) Local initiative can easily be identified and taken on board especially in mobilizing community to
gain local support for projects.

g) Power is more widely dispersed which is a safeguard against tyranny. The local government
system protects citizens against this.

h) Local variations and needs in service provision can better be handled by local government since it
understands the needs of its own locality.

I) Central Government does not possess either the organization or the personnel to control the
activities of people in all local areas and to provide them the necessary services.
J) Decongestion of Government in the capital city by freeing key officials from routine and detailed
tasks many of which deal with purely local issues. This has a positive impact on the
speed and effectiveness of administration at all levels.

k) By decentralizing functions and re-assigning central Government officials to local levels, their
knowledge and sensitivity to local problems and needs will be increased.

L) The local people themselves are in a much better position to make decisions regarding the type of
development that they want. The central Government cannot possibly know what people in rural
areas want.

M) Closer contact between Government officials and the local people will allow both sides to better
information with which to formulate more realistic and effective plans for Government projects and
programs.

N) By being closer to the people, it is claimed that local authorities can move easily and identify
people‟s needs and therefore supply the appropriate form and level of public srvices.

O) Decentralisation of development plans and management functions allows local leaders to locate
services and facilities more effectively within their communities. It allows them to

MEANING OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Local Government is grassroots government recognized by law. It is defined severally by authors and
bodies. Let us look at the definition of local government from the perspective of one author and two
bodies or documents.

Maddick (1963) defines local government as A sub-unit of government controlled by a local council
which is authorized by the central government to pass ordinances having a local application, levy
taxes or exact labour and within limit specified by the central government, vary centrally decided
policy in applying it locally.

The United Nations defines local government as a political sub-division of a nation (or in a federal
system, a state) which is constituted by a law and has substantial control of local affairs including the
power to impose taxes or to exert labour for prescribed purposes. The governing body of such an
entity is elected or otherwise locally selected.

The Reform document (Nigeria 1976) defines local government as: government at local level
exercised by representative council, established by law to exercise specific power within define areas

Local government is a system of Government at a local level. Local government administration

therefore refers to any government administration below the state or national level and is
responsible for the daily running of a local municipality or community. It is the operation of
government closest to where people live. Such a system would normally be a lower representative
institution with general and specific powers conferred to it by a higher level of Government within a
geographically defined area (Ishmail 1997).

The terms Local Government and Local Authority are in many instance interchangeably used to refer
to a political subdivision of a nation or state that is constituted by law and has substantial control of
local affairs including the power to impose taxes. It is important to note however that the term local
authority specifically refers to the unit of Local Government itself e.g. a district council.

Ola. F. (1984) defines Local Government as a subdivision of a nation or state which is constituted by
law and has several powers including those to impose taxes or exact labour for prescribed purposes.
The governing body of such an entity is elected or otherwise locally selected. A local authority in
effect is an organization comprising elected and appointed officials which operates within a specific
geographical area to provide services for local community.

According to Ismail etal (1997), such an authority has the right to govern on its own initiative but is
subject to constitutional provisions as well as central and provincial legislation. In other words, Local
Governments have specific local powers and functions not covered by other levels of Government
and local administrators are elected by the local populations. Generally, local authorities are there to
promote the social and economic well being of citizens.

From the three definitions above, certain characteristics of local government stand out

a) That local government is a subordinate system of government

b) It has both legal and constitutional power to perform certain legislative, administrative and quasi
judicial functions

c) Has the power to make policies, prepare budgets and a measure of control over its own staff. d)
Its council could be elected or selected.

e) It has legal personality i.e. can sue and be sued.

f) It exercise authority over a given territory or population.

These definitions, point at local government as having government character

within limited powers.

This can be further broken down more specifically as follows:

a) Legal entity which can sue and be sued for wrong doing.

b) Power to make its own laws, policies, plans and budgets on what to do, how why, where, when,
for who and at what cost.

c) Legislative body called a council composed of elected councilors and a chairman to make laws and
policies.

d) Executive body called the Committee composed of appointed or elected officials and the
chairman to formulate policies and laws.

e) Administrative body called the local government service composed of career civil servants to
assist in formulating and in implementing laws and policies.

f) Power to tap human, financial and material resources for public use within the geographical area.
g) Answerable to a higher level of government (National or state or regional) on certain power and
functions it carries out (especially concurrent function). This is to say that a local government is not
absolutely autonomous.

ROLES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The roles of local government are in some ways similar to those of central government. Central
government exists to provide for development services to the people and provide security for the
citizenry and ensures participation of the citizenry in government.

To some extent local government performs such roles even though with some varying degree of
intensity. For easier understanding such roles could be classified into two viz; political and socio-
economic roles.

Political Role

Local governments are veritable and appropriate institutions for promoting democracy at the local
level.

They are well placed to mobilization the people politically through political education, political
enlightenment and political actions.

Local Government have became very useful tool for the conduct of election at all levels of
government. With such, the process of political recruitment is institutionalized and the institution
can then help to train people for higher responsibilities.

Another political role is that of maintenance law and order. Local governments have the
instrumentality of the police at their disposal and therefore work with its leadership at the local level
to enforce law and order and maintain security. Moreover, certain committees such as the Security
Committee, the police Committee, facilitate such exercise

Furthermore, to enhance responsive governance, local governments serve as a two-way channel of

communication between the government and the governed. Just as it transmits the decision of
governments to the local people, it also conveys or channels their demands and feedback on policies
to governments (local or central).

SOCIO-ECONOMIC ROLE

The exercise of democracy and human rights can only be meaningful if demands and policies can be
translated into physical development including the provision of basic socio-economic services.

Services of local government are primary or basic in nature as reflected in their functions. Some of
these are basic health, basic education, agriculture and revenue raising and regulating functions.
People expect such services to be delivered to make any meaning of democracy and bureaucracy at
the local level. The services delivered also depend on the nature of the local government – whether
it is a municipal council or a rural council – the complexity may depend on the level of urbanization
or the availability of funds.
In providing socio-economic services, local governments have to work with community groups and
the citizenry to harness community energies and input into development.

A greater part of the developmental initiatives and effectiveness in local government is a function of
community development or self-help groups.

These two roles of local governments will be revisited in another form when in a later unit look at
the theories of local government and the argument for each of these role highlighting the
importance of each.

DECENTRALIZATION & RELATED CONCEPTS

THE NATURE OF DECENTRALIZATION

Local government is a decentralized political entity. You may recall in the First Unit how we
identified what types of power local governments enjoys including constitutional-legal, political and
administrative etc. The powers of local governments are subject to various forms of control by the
central government etc. The balance of this control is the power enjoyed by local government
(which is technically referred to as autonomy). It is therefore possible to say that the less the control
on local government by the central government, the more autonomy conceded to these units. In this
same vein, the tighter the control of local government affairs by the central government, the less the
autonomy or local government powers.

Decentralization is a term that summarizes this spectrum of power relations or levels of institutional
power. In some systems, local governments enjoys greater control over their affairs (especially
Federal system) while in unitary system, the tendency is for greater control of local government.

The concept of decentralization refers to the transfer of government functions and power to both
agents and units of government in a given country. What makes this term or concept important for
local government is its types. There are two types of decentralization viz: deconcentration and
devolution.

Deconcentration is the delegation of authority, adequate for the discharge of specified functions to
staff of central departments who are situated outside the headquarter. Alderfer (1967) adds that is
the transfer of powers to subordinate authorities, whether offices, individuals or field units.

Devolution is the legal instrument conferring of power to discharge specified or residual power upon
formally constituted local authorities. Local governments can therefore be classified as a
deconcentration (i.e deconcentrated units) or a devolution (units with substantial power). Local

governments that enjoys devolution of powers are likely to be more autonomous (or exercise
greater powers over its local affairs) than local governments that are deconcentrated.

Local governments that enjoy devolution are likely to exhibit the following

characteristics.

a) Its existence is constitutionally guaranteed

b) It also has constitutional backing to perform certain statutory

functions

c) Exercise power or control over policies, budget preparation its revenue and its staff

d) The council is democratically constituted and therefore accountable to

the people (i.e. the people become a primary source of power). A deconcentrated arrangement
denies local governments of the powers enjoyed especially in ( c ) above. 3.2

THE MEANING OF DECENTRALIZATION

Refers to the transfer of responsibilities and functions as well as appropriate resources to provincial,
district and community levels.

It can be based on territorial, functional, horizontal and vertical considerations.

Territorial: It signifies the desire to place authority of a lower level in a territorial hierarchy. This is to
ensure geographical closeness of both service providers and recipients.

Functional: This refers to the transfer of authority to an agency that is functionally specialized to
perform specific tasks. Such agencies can operate nationally or across local jurisdictions.

Horizontal: Refers to the dispersing of power among institutions at the same level. e.g. Government
spending decisions instead of being concentrated in an all powerful Ministry of Finance might be
spread across different Government ministries.

Vertical: For purposes of this course, this form of decentralization is the most important. It allows
some powers of central Government to be delegated downwards to lower levels of

authority such as states, regional or Local Governments or village associations. It takes different
forms.

Vertical Forms of Decentralization

There are four major forms of vertical decentralization as follows;

(1) Delegation: This involves the transfer of responsibility for maintaining or implementing sector
duties to regional or functional development authorities, parastatals and other semi-autonomous
Government agencies. In short, it involves passing some authority and decision making powers to
local authorities.

(2) Deconcentration:

According to Rondinelli (1983), deconcentration involves the transfer of selected functions within
the central Government hierarchy through the shifting of workload from central ministries to field
officers through creation of field agencies or the shifting of responsibility to local administrative
units that are part of the central get structure.

In a deconcentrated system, there is little or no horizontal integration or coordination of work

between the different sector ministries and agencies at the local level.

(3) Devolution: Involves the transfer of discretionary authority to legally constituted Local.
Governments such as most states, provinces, districts or municipalities. In devolved systems
responsibility, a wide range of operations embracing more than one sector are assigned to Local
Governments. In such a system, the overseer role of central Government is limited to ensuring that
local government operate within broadly defined national policies.

Local Government in a devolved system can do what they want bound only by the broad national
policy guidelines, their financial, human and material resources. In such a system, local level staff is
responsible to locally elected councils and not to sector ministries.

Other Characteristics of Devolution are as follows:

1. Local Government is perceived as a separate level over which central authority exercises little or
no direct control.

2. Local units must have a clear and legally recognized geographical boundaries over which they
exercise authority and within which they perform public functions.

3. Local units must be given corporate status i.e they can sue or be sued, be involved in business
ventures and raise funds from their own resources and they should be free to revise rent charges.

Generally therefore, local units should be perceived by the citizens as institutions which provide
services that satisfy their heads and over which they have some influence.

(4) Privatization

Privatization is the removal of state interests in public enterprises and the subsequent sale of such
enterprises to the private sectors. Generally, it involves the deregulation of what may be considered
as Government constraints with a view to enhancing efficiency in the context of business as well as
contracting out of service provision.
WHY DECENTRALIZE?

THE UGANDAN LOCAL GOVERNMENT MODEL

Uganda is a unitary state ruled by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) under president Yoweri
Kaguta Museveni. The NRM is as a result of a broad coalition of political factors who formed an
alliance in response to the 1980 elections which were allegedly rigged by Milton Obote.

The NRM‟s argument was that political parties were undemocratic and had the potential to
entrench instability in the country. What Uganda needed according to that argument was a political
system that would unify the people in order to spearhead national development.

There are 250 constituences in Uganda. People elected from these constituency form the pool from
which the president can choose his ministers. The Ugandan constitution is silent on question of
whether or not the President can appoint ministers outside those related to the constituences.

The 1967 Constitution and Local Administration Act: This Act centralised powers and severely
constrained local authorities. Between 1967 and 1970, local administration political offices became
appointive. Discipline in councils deteriorated because there was no direct accountability to the
electorate to facilitate efficient and effective service provision. The accompanying laws of legitimacy
resulted among other things in the ineffective enforcement of by-laws and the operations of self-
help and community development ground to a halt. This led to a decay of social economic
infrastructure.

The 1967 Act gave the Minister of Local Government very close control over local spending and
sweeping powers to intervene whenever political and adminitrative problems arose at the local
level.

Generally, however, the local Government system prevailing in Uganda emanates from the
enactments of the resistance councils and committees statute of 1987 which among other things
first created resistance councils and committees from the village up to the district level and granted
them wide ranging powers. Secondly, created district development committees. Thirdly, fostered
political accountability by holding the resistance councils fully accountable to the electorates and
investing them with powers to recall their representation. Fourthly, fostered administrative
accountability by requiring district officials to be answerable to councils.

The decentralisation policy in Uganda aims at achieving among other things the following :

a) Decentralization becomes imperative because of the need for social change (especially in
developing countries) and the difficulty of communication.
b) There is need to establish local governments to serve as nuclei of local energies, enthusiasm and
initiative for a more virile system of local authorities. Such units will take care of diversity, local
variations and the difficulty in ( a ) above.

c) Not all functions can be performed by the centre – some functions are local in nature.
Decentralization therefore is a devise to aid the achievement of the ends of government or to aid
development

d) Efficiency – In theory, decentralization should improve efficiency. Projects would be tailored to

match local needs. Since projects are monitored locally, lines of communication would be shorter
with fewer delays associated with conflicts between project staff and the beneficiaries.

e) Equity – Most countries especially in the development world have very uneven levels of
development. There are marked disparities between different regions, between urban and rural
areas, or between different income and economic groups. Centralization certainly alters some of
these imbalances.

f) Economic Participation – Decentralization can increase economic participation by facilitating the

establishment of business activity and therefore help to increase employment opportunities in many
ways such as the following;

1) increased public expenditure in for example construction and maintenance of infrastructure such
as roads, water supply and electricity will directly employ local contractors and works;

2) local facilities are likely to be more appropriate and better maintained if the local communities
influence their construction. They will therefore be of more use to the local entrepreneurs and help
increase their profitability;

3) Local Governments might be able to offer better support to local businesses. They can for
example offer Management assistance and marketing information tailored to local needs.

g) Political Participation – If decentralization takes the form of deconcentration or delegation, the

center will retain effective control and political participation may not be enhanced.

Decentralization through devolution by contrast should lead to more effective political participation
provided power is not merely devolved to non-democratic and non participatory institution.

OBJECTIVES OF DECENTRALIZATION

The objectives of both deconcentration and devolution are:

i) to decongest the functions of government from one centre to various parts of a country or state;

b) to provide government services and facilities to every nook and corner of a country or state i.e. to
promote even development of all parts;
c) to involve all citizens of a country and or state in governance through political means and policy
making;

d) to tap human, financial and material resources parts in all parts of a country or state for public
use;

e) to take care of peculiar needs and or problems of each part of a country or state.

Factors Affecting the Decision of Government to Decentralize

For government to be able to carry out its domestic services, it require organizations outside its
headquarters. This applies to traditional centred functions like tax collection, policing, post and
telecommunication, to personal services of citizens such as agriculture, education, health and
welfare or the supporting services of these such as irrigation, forestry and trunk road construction.

The level of decentralization will depend on the general conditions or the phase of development in
which the administration and the people are in each country.

i) Centralization for national building – Many countries especially in the developing

world lack domain institutions and traditions which is partly a legacy from the colonial times, hence
concentration of national power is in the hands of central Governments characterized by a massive
accumulation of rules and regulations.

ii) Weak Democracy – During the colonial period and in some cases beyond, many countries have
been in a non democratic way through the use of authoritarian structures.

This has had the tendency to perpetuate centralizing tendencies as central Governments seek to
maintain complete control.

iii) Loin Social Spending – A high proportion of most central Government budgets is devoted to items
that are centrally controlled such as mutually expenditures and debt servicing. Consequently, social
spending which has a greater potential for decentralization tends to take up a smaller proportion of
public funds.

iv) Urban Bias – For most countries, there is a bias in social spending towards urban areas and more
prestigious forms of service delivery. Preference is given to the construction of big hospitals located
in cities and towns rather than to rural health clinics and centres.

Attention is paid to development of elite universities and colleges rather than to the provision of
basic services.
v) Foreign Aid – Negotiation of international assistance be it financial or technical is the

responsibility of central Government. In some instances, foreign donors may insist on

the involvement of local authorities and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs). In the
implementation of donor funded projects in practice, however, the expenditure of donor funds is
highly centralized in most countries.

The Contribution of Decentralization

The most important contribution that agencies that can make to the tremendous programme facing
developing governments are as follows:

a) The provision of services in the area where they are required, matching central government policy
and local need

b) Close contact with the local area, enabling detailed plans to be evolved

c) Economy in men, materials, equipment

d) Flow of information recurred from the rural areas and outward to the headquarters

e) Intimate association with local people aiding societal and economic change

f) Protection of rural inhabitants and aid in emergencies

g) Maintenance of infrastructures and capital work

h) Development of the local government system

THEORIES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

UNITILITY & FOCUS OF THEORIES

Theories deal with explanation. In this case it is about how to understand local government or what
local governments are meant for. It is important to understand this so that we become clear in our
minds what the institution really stands for and what its priority should be. People also from their
attitude to the institution based on their knowledge of the institution and what it should be doing.
Furthermore, it will enable us appreciate the problems of institution.

Some scholars argue that local governments exist essentially as democratic institutions and their job
is to foster representative and participatory democracy at the local level. Other scholars feel local
governments should focus more on service delivery for those tangible things communities required.
DEMOCRATIC – PARTICIPATION SCHOOL

The influence on this school has been largely the work of John Stuart Mills especially with his work
on Utilitarianism, Liberty and Representative Government. In it, he claim that the good form of
government was representative government because it promoted liberty, equity, and fraternity,
made men look beyond their immediate interest and recognized the just demands of other men;
promote political education, participation and communication. Furthermore, he asserts that local
government is a prime element of democracy and demonstrates the intrinsic values of democracy
irrespective of the services it provides. Government is truly representative when all types of people
can take part. The local government level offers the closest thing to widespread consultation and
participation.

British and America governments are based on the tenets of democracy and representative
government and the local government level is a haven for such activities. Local governments in such
entities and indeed other advanced western countries, function to bring about democracy and to
provide opportunities for political participation to the citizenry as well as to educate and socialise
them politically. Politics and indeed development is about making choices through informed opinion,
conflict and conflict resolution and these should be the priorities of local government. According to
Panter (1953) participation is vital to democracy since it is the community that people appreciate
and tolerate each other’s views and learn the art of practical politics. Local governments have
become the training grounds for political elites or higher level of government. Studies have been
carried out to buttress this position. For example Keith Lucas in an English study concluded that the
number of British members of Parliament who had served on local government demonstrated the
importance of local government as a recruiting ground for the British Parliament. Specifically, David
Butter found out in the 1964 general elections that 53% of the labour members of parliament and
45% of the defeated members had been local government councilors. The figure is 29% and 40%
respectively for the conservative party.

This point on parliamentarians benefiting from political apprenticeship at local government level is
replete in these advanced democracies as confirmed by Mackenzie (1954) in his work titled “Local
Government in Parliament”.A very important part of this democratic role is the opportunity it
creates for political activity and social interaction. Such a forum helps to inculcate the ideals of
democracy like, election or selection of local government committees and boards, public debates,
pressure and interest group activities, and community mobilization. Local governments must
continue to buttress democracy through these ideas.

EFFICIENCY SERVICES SCHOOL

The advocates of efficiency services believe that the idea of democracy advocated by Mills and Bricks
above do no apply to different political system in the same manner especially in the face of modern
realities.

The crux of their theory is that the main purpose of local government is to provide services to the
local people. Foremost among the advocates is the French scholar Langood (1953) who opined that
democracy was the affairs of the nation-state as a whole issue of majority rule, equality and
uniformity are the norm. Local self government by contrast was parochial and concerned with local
differences and separation. The two are opposed and it was only a historical accident that they had
developed together in the 19th century. He went on to say that it was equally false to see local
government as a setting for political education and democracy. To him, the local arena has only
succeeded in breeding few national leaders. Local politics is more likely to reinforce narrow sectional
interests than an appreciation of democracy. The citizen is more likely to learn about democracy
from national politics and national issues.

Arguing in the same vein, Moulin ( ) points out that local government is so restricted while national
goals are wider in scale. Local experience and knowledge is hardly appropriate to national affairs.
Sharpe (1970) provided a very strong case for local governments on the grounds that it was the most
efficient agent for providing those services that are essentially local. He suggested that the efficient
performance of these services is so compelling that if local government doss not exist, something
else will have to be created in its place, meaning the institution is indispensable. Even a
decentralized form of national government cannot play this role because of the level of coordination
local government can forge cannot be undertaken by such an alternative. The main functional
responsibility of local governments therefore is to efficiently carry out local duties allocated to it, at
the highest efficiency rate.

LOCAL GOVERNEMTN AND INTER –GOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

The concept of intergovernmental relations is defined by Adamolekun (1982) as follows:

… the interactions that take place among the different levels of government within a state. Usually
the concept is associated with States having a Federal administration system where the
relationshipsbetween the Federal, central or national government and the major sub-national units
(province, region or state) are formally spelt out in the Constitution. In particular, the jurisdictional
powers of each level of government are spelt out in the constitution and any re-arrangement must
be through a constitutional amendment involving both levels of government. Although the emphasis
is the analysis of intergovernmental relations (IGR) is on Federal-State relations, the full picture also
includes how level related to local government units established within each state. The result then is
that a full analyses of IGR within a Federal administration system must cover the following;

Federal-State,

Federal-State-Local,

Federal-Local,

Inter-State,

State-Local,

and Inter-Local relationships. We also want to add that in a unitary system, it is possible to talk
similarly e.g. central-local central, etc.

The term simply means the relationship between levels of government, how each level relates to or
interacts with other.
It should however be pointed out that is it not these offices or structures themselves that matter in
IGR but the human beings that operate it i.e. human relations and human behaviour (See Anderson,
1960).

The key objectives of IGR are as follows:

1. To promote peace and harmony among the three levels of government

2. To enhance the emergence of cooperation rather than competitive Federalism

3. To ensure effective and efficient utilization of available human and material resources among the
various levels of government;

4. To accelerate the achievement of self reliant economy;

5. To minimize inter-jurisdictional conflicts among the various levels of government;

6. To solve the problem of rural and urban poverty, ignorance and suffering of the people and

7. To foster greater national integration through the activities of the three levels of government.

These objectives address largely political, administrative and developmental issues. The main
objective is to minimize areas of conflict as these in government carry out their functions or exercise
powers and channel resources to issues of socio-economic development.

FEATURES OF THE RELATIOSHIP

As pointed out, IGR is the interaction between Federal, State and Local governments. In a Federal
system, the relationship actually emphasizes the Federal and State. Local governments are under
state government. Because of the peculiarities of Nigerian administration and constitutional
development, local government have come to play a role, so this relationship is formalized between
State and Local and between Federal and local.

The model of relationship is however as follows:

a) Federal…………………………..State

b) State……………………………..State

c) Federal…………………………..Local

d) State…………………………….local

e) Federal………………………….State…………….Local

f) Local……………………………Local
An analysis of this relationship shows that is can be vertical as in Federal State or horizontal as in
State-State or Local-Local. It can also flow directly from the Federal to Local government which is a
predominant type under military administration especially in the area of decrees, direct circulars,

administrative reforms and financial matters.

In Nigeria, the horizontal relationship among state governments and among local governments is
not as strong as the vertical relationships while that of state-state has been more functional than
that of Local-Local. Interactions between levels of government have a great deal to do with the
attitudes and behaviour of the functionaries at each levels. Usually, in IGR, two types of relationship
can be distinguished, namely, superior-subordinate and bargaining and negotiating relationship. The
state government tends to feel superior while local officials assume the subordinate officials. Such a

relationship is more pronounced in developing countries while the negotiating/bargaining type in

countries with rich democratic traditions. This is a case of control and autonomy. Where the control
or interference of the central government is high in local administration, the outcome is the superior
subordinate type. On the other hand, the situation of partnership describes more of autonomy for
local administration. On paper, the higher the level of devolution for local governments the less
state interference and the more the autonomy. We should however note that devolution sometimes
can be on paper while the actual practice can degenerate into deconcentration.

An example of this is the Nigeria local government system which is constitutionally regarded as third
tier and supported by various reforms meant for institution building, but in practice, these local
governments are very vulnerable to state control and interference. It has become more like a
master-servant relationship and also dependent in structure.

In this regard, Oladosun (1983) concluded about this relationship in Nigeria when he writes

Instead of seeing local government as a political institution for “home rule” or for “democratic
participation” in the processes of governance at the grassroots, it is seen and employed by the state
government as

“an instrument with which to achieve its purposes at the local level and as alternative machinery
for the provision of socio-economic services.

We have already pointed out that the real; determinant of state-local government relationship is to
be found in the attitude of the central (state) government as manifested in various policy circulars
(legislative, administrative, judicial and financial as well as in the behaviour of its field staff towards
local government generally. Commenting further on this relationship, Oladosu (1983) observed that.
Genuine decentralization of governmental powers (i.e. democratic decentralization as opposed to
bureaucratic decentralization), is indeed more an act of political faith than (one of) administrative
theory. It is the absence of this faith in local organs (on part of the functionaries at the state
government level) that makes all our efforts at decentralization half-hearted.

It appears there is a basic deep-rooted mistrust of local organs. Our policy makers seem to be
apprehensive of the possibility of power passing to the wrong hands at the local level and as a result
of which localism may run riot. To guide against this dangerous state of affairs, state governments
always, as a rule, have a few of their administrative officers posted to the local government areas as
their watch-dog, serving as the eyes and ears of the states .

JUSTIFICATION FOR CONTROL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The state (central) control of local government is usually justified on the following grounds (Barber,
1972)

a) The modern functions of the state have so much increased from social welfare to the promotion
of economic prosperity that a central discretion is necessary.

b) Increasing technicality of present day functions of the state structurally, they are inadequate and
are plague by resources disparities so that they cannot maintain common standards in the provision
of services.

c) Local government the world over are increasingly dependent financially or state/central grants
and or financial statutory allocation while their own internal sources of revenue are inelastic and
inadequate to meet the pressing demands for services.

d) The State/Central government has at its disposal, greater resources – financial, technical,
administrative and professional.

e) The desirability of common standards or uniformity in the provision of services cannot be

achieved without central direction.

f) Lastly, the need to subordinate sectional or narrow interests to those of a wider public makes
state/central control an imperative.

All these boil down to the question of autonomy i.e. how much power should local government
enjoys over its resources or how much liberty should be given to local governments. This is a t the
centre of IGR. The trends is that in some systems, local governments enjoys more autonomy than
others for example, the autonomy of local governments in a Federal system like the United States is
higher that that of a Unitary system like France. In developing countries a Federal system like Nigeria
also boasts of a higher level of autonomy than a unitary system like Tanzania. Normally the more
deconcentrated the system of local government the less autonomy enjoys by local governments

THE MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The central government controls local government through a Ministry of Local Government. There
are those who argue that local government affairs be vested in a ministry concerned with other
usually technical matters like health, agriculture, education etc. Such arrangement will only succeed
in turning local governments into agencies under each of those ministries.

Yet some other countries may want to vest permanent responsibility for nurturing the local
government system in the office of the President, Prime Minister or Governor. This might be
prestigious but the arrangement suffers from volume and variety of business.
Most countries prefer a separate Ministry for Local Government (or as it is located in Britain,
Ministry of Environment) to coordinate and control the activities if local government. Role of the
Ministry

The role of the Ministry of local Government is captures by Maddick (1963) as follows.

…to ensure that local authorities are stimulated and encouraged to exercise the power given to
them, and to correct the tendency of each technical ministry to treat a local authority as its
particular agent alone; to secure for the system a reasonable share of national resources of staff;
revenue and capital; to ensure that there is a basic unity of approach to local government problems
in the country as a whole (although this will require detailed variation of particular areas) and also to
ensure that there is a fair chance of every district developing at a reasonable speed; to know the
strength and weakness of individual local authorities and thus to be able to recommend or reject
proposals for the extension of functions; and finally, to apply sanctions where local authorities are
clearly not discharging their functions, or discharging them in a way which is harmful to society.

Specific ways the Ministry can assist the Local Government system

The ways in which a Ministry of Local Government can specifically aid the

local government system are as follows:

a) Stimulate and encourage local authority individual or collectively to improve their services.

b) Secure the cooperation of other ministries in the task.

c) Provide technical, professional, administrative legal and financial advice.

d) Establish a local government system and train staff) Train councillors – possibly indirect through
non-governmental agencies such as local government associations.

f) Secure as appropriate share of taxing powers and grants for local governments.

g) Make available loans for local authorities for public works.

h) Provide expensive equipment or the bulk purchase of stores, if these are not forthcoming form
ministries.

i) Carry out inspection, audit and general supervision of local authorities.

The problem with the Ministry for local government in carrying out thee assistance above (especially
in developing countries) is that it encroaches into the area of autonomy of local governments and
therefore turns out to control rather than coordinate and support these governments. This is the
idea behind the master-servant relationship which is always a criticism of intergovernmental
relationship.

STRUCTURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

TYPES OF STRUCTURES
Every organization or institution has a structure. By structure we mean the components of an
organization that perform certain functions geared towards the achievements of organizational
goals. In administration, these component or structures are hierarchically organized. This therefore
entail that the structures offer positions that are stratified i.e. a superior subordinate relationship. In
local government just like in other governments, the administrative structure is patterned along
these lines. Local government also has a political structure. All elected officials fall into this structure
and it is principally made up of the legislature and the executive. In the local government there are
also Committee structures set up to look at issues and take decisions on behalf of the government –
a lot of such decisions are subject to ratification by the council or the superior body as the case may
be. The structure of local government can also refer to the status of local government i.e whether it
is all or multi-purpose or single tier local government or a multi-tier local government with layers of
local authorities below the local government structure

Tiers of Local Government

There are tow types of structure related to the status of local governments. First is a single-tier
(multi-purpose) structure in which only one authority is recognized by law at the local level. Any
other arrangement under local government is a matter of administrative convenience. A good
example of this is the Nigeria local government system which is described as single tire.

Only this level of authority is recognized by the 1979 and 1999 constitution. Districts, villages, wards
ad even area development authorities are just for administrative purpose and thus varies from state
to state. The multi-tier system is one where the authorities under the local government like Districts,
Counties, Borough, Special districts, Home Rule etc. are recognized by the Law and related with
appropriately by the central/state governments. However, in some countries like Britain, the Lower
authorities are not responsible as such to the higher authorities i.e. within its own sphere it enjoys a
functional independence, meaning that it is responsible for the administration of a group of services
or parts of services. In France on the other hand, the level of decentralization makes the communes
subordinate to the Department in certain cases. So also are the sub-districts to the Districts in India.

Political Structure

Local governments are variously politically structured and constituted. This is also a fall out of the
system of leadership in local governments. (This point on leadership will be discussed in a later unit).
As pointed out earlier, the political structure is responsible for policy making, law making and even
policy implementation at the local level. The major organs of the political structure are the
Executive, the Legislature and Committee. These Committees can be standing Committees
(statutory) or House or Executive Committees asset up to study issues and report to the parent
body. The legislature is made up of councillors and in some cases Alderman. The Executive could be
made up of supervisory councillors or superiors together with the Chairman.

The political structure caries from country to country depending sometimes on the system of
leadership. Some systems advocate a strong chairman while others a weak one. Some may have a
large number of councillors, other small. The executive may also follow the same pattern.

In the US, the political structure addressed four types of leadership, namely the strong mayor, the
weak mayor, the commission system and the council or city manager system. Structure can also
refer to the minimum population spelt out for the creation of local governments. In Nigeria, the
1976 Reform spells out a population of 150,000 - 800,000. This is done in such a way as to respect
the issue of viability. On this basis, 301 local governments were created. In multi-tier system, the
population of the smaller units are bound to be much less.

Administrative Structure

The administrative structure of local government is hierarchical as in any other government. At the
head is a Secretary to the Local Government (what in France is referred to as the Prefect). In some
local government system, (e.g. Nigeria) the Secretary is the Chief Executive but through reforms he
had come to be answerable to the Chairman. He is the head of Administration.

Under the Secretary are Departments which are headed by Heads of Departments. The Departments
in local governments are created in such a way that they perform a group of functions. Normally
such dependents are those of Finance, Personnel (Administration). Agriculture, Education. Health
Works, Social Welfare and Community Development etc. The number of departments a local
government should have would depend on the complexity of the local government (e.g. urban –
rural) or the Laws setting up local governments. Sometimes these Departments are classified as
service and operational

departments. The service departments are normally those that deal with staff and finance both of
which support service delivery. The operational departments deliver the services on the field.

Each department is organized in such a way that there are sections and units or divisions and
branches which deal with particular services that add up to the entire services of the department.
The operational departments also have their structure right into the community where they deliver
these services. These are called field or extension workers and they could be of a technical,
professional and administrative nature.

The sections and units are answerable to the heads of department while the local government
secretary coordinated the activities of the heads of departments. The Secretary in turn is largely
responsible to the chairman in some system, the state expects the Secretary to be the watching dog
for effective administrative practice at the local government level.

RELATIOSHIPS BETWEEN THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE & ADMINISTRATION STRUCTURE

local authorities are about democracy and service delivery. The political structure in local
governments represents the democratic concern of local government while the bureaucracy or the
administrative structure represents the instrument for effective services. The problem with local
government is how the political structure can use the administrative structure for providing efficient
service. The political structure makes laws and policies for local government including approval of
local governments estimates and budgets. The chairman works closely with his Secretary and Heads
of departments to implement policies agreed at the Executive and Legislative Councils. To forge a
close link between the political and administrative structure, political heads are attached to each
department. These are called Supervisory Councillors or Supervisors (depending on the system of
government). These supervisors control the activities of heads of departments. Policies agreed upon
in the Executive Council are implemented by the supervisors through their heads of departments.
These Heads also channel the needs and activities of their Department to the Council through their
supervisors. The supervisors are therefore the eyes of the chairman at the level of the department.
In the same way, the Secretary is the chief adviser to the chairman on local government
administration. Such advises are on administrative procedure, planning, financial management,
staffing and intergovernmental relations.

The chairman may be eager to ensure the implementation of his programmes but the Secretary is
there to make him that this is done through governmental procedure. The chairman may be eager to
ensure the implementation of his programmes but the Secretary is there to make him that this is
done through governmental procedure.

A typical structure of local government

FUNCTIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNEMENT PRINCIPLES

There are certain principles to consider while allocating functions to local government

- The nature of such local government – urban or rural. The functions of rural local government are
more mundane and simple than urban ones.

- Viability of the local government. The question here is whether the local government has the
capacity (human and material and financial resources) to discharge these functions.

- The local government will be subjected to the standards required by the central government
especially in efficiently services and planning.

In general, the functions which local governments should perform are these

1. which require detailed local knowledge for efficient performance;

2. in which success depends on community responsiveness with participation;

3. which are of personal nature requiring provision close to where the individual affected live;

4. in which significant use of discretion or understanding of individuals is needed.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE(REVENUE

SOURCES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVENUE

Local governments derive their revenues from two major sources viz internal and external sources.
Internal sources are the revenue items local governments have control over. External sources come
from grants and loans.

1. Taxation

Local taxes on land and buildings account for an important share of local revenues in most

developing countries although full utilization is not often achieved. Such taxes may be based

upon capital value or rental value as determined by assessing authorities.

2. Personal Levy

These are taxes levied on persons (adults) on classes of persons according to occupations or some
other bases. The idea behind this tax is to obtain revenue from even those who do not pay the
property or rental taxes but who should also bear the tax burden of local services.

The major limitations towards effective collection of both taxes and levies especially in most

developing countries is that local authorities cannot review/revise local taxes. It is the

responsibility of central government and can only be undertaken when deemed necessary. The
other problem relates to the levels of unemployment where you have a lot of people in informal
employment which creates difficulties in paying the taxes especially to rural based councils.

3. Cost Recovery User Fees

Local authorities can raise revenue by changing user services. Such charges of fees can be placed on
all forms of economic activities such as restaurant, motels, stores, places of entertainment etc. Some
of these sources are just to maintain control since they are not really lucrative but are just meant to
maintain standard services.

4. Earning from Public Utilities

In some countries, public utilities such as water supply, electricity, public transport are provided by
local authorities and earn returns from the same.

5. Central Government Grants

These are the most important sources of local revenue in most developing countries.

The reasons for this are many:

a) The national government has absorbed the best sources of public revenue and is therefore
obliged to assist local authorities.

b) The national government often gives local authorities addition responsibilities for which no
addition revenues are forthcoming.

c) The national government also attempts to equalize government services between the richer and
power areas. It therefore makes national funds available on the basis of some formular in order to
decrease imbalances (equalizing grants are not yet in offered.

6. Voluntary Contributions

Local government compared to central government has the advantage of being able to benefit from
local voluntary contributions in cash or kind. To benefits from such contributions, however, it is very
necessary to establish effective forms of coordination

7. Borrowing
Most national governments allow their local authorities to borrow in order to finance improvements
in infrastructure and their activities. It is however, very common for central government to exert
some kind of control over local government borrowing or to adjust its fiscal and monetary policies in
order to maintain a stable national economy.

PERSONNEL SYSTEMS

Generally, the staff of the local authority can be divided into three categories namely:

1. The office staff i.e. heads of departments and their staff

2. Employees in special categories such as teachers, managers of municipal enterprises and other
executive positions.

3. Manual workers engaged in the various services such as the maintenance of pods, water supplies
etc that are run by the council.

The general position is that a local council is required to appoint its officers and is responsible to give
the various salary scales. For certain officers, however, legislation may provide that the central
government has a measure of control. In this respect, the consent of Central Government may be
required for their appointment or regarding the amount of their salary or their dismissal.

This is however an exception rather than the rule.

What is important to note is that regardless of the mode of appointment, local authorities need to
pay special attention to the quality of personnel as this is very fundamental to the achievement of
their objectives.

There are generally three broad categories of personnel systems which can be adopted in the
running of local authorities.

1) The integrated personnel system.

In this system, both the central government and local authorities fall under a single civil service.
Issues pertaining to recruitment, promotion, compensation, transfers, retirement and dismissals are
dealt with by the same civil service commission or an equivalent arrangement. There are hence
opportunities for transfers of personnel from one local authority to another.

2) Unified personnel system:

In this system, local staff is separate from the central government staff but falls under the control of
the ministry responsible for local government. Major issues relating to personnel administration are
dealt with by a separate body such as a local government service commission or some other body
with an appropriate designation.
3) Separate personnel system:

In this system each local authority has its own personnel system although certain aspects are
regulated by central government. Under this arrangement, conditions of service may be uniform
between local units but the opportunity for transfer is very unlikely. Local authorities using this
system are free to enhance their operation through secondment of staff from central government.

MANAGING LOCAL GOVERNMENT (COUNCIL ADMINISTRATION )

The models of organization and management of local authority are as explained below:

1) Councilor – Committee model

The local authorities operating under this model are controlled by elected councils and they use a
committee system in the course of their operations. The head of the council is a Honorary mayor and
functional departments are run by appointed officials under the leadership of a CEO who is normally
a professional. There is no political execution in such a model.

Council authority is delegated to committees and not to individuals. In this model, the membership
of committees normally reflects a balance of all political parties.

Appointed official are excluded from the committees. The council represents the legislature and the
political executive. Its responsibilities include making policy, making the budget and ensuring that
council decisions are implemented.

Advantages of the councilor-committee model

a) It ensures that the elected officials are directly in charge of the administration through the various
committees.

b) It ensures democracy in the process of decision making since council authority can only be
delegated to committees and not individuals.

c) Differences of opinion are well accommodated given that „all‟ political parties are represented on
the various committees.

Disadvantages of the model

a) There is no real direct supervision of council administration by elected national

politicians since there is no political executive. Political oversight is limited to committees.

b) There is a clear distinction between councilors and appointed officials since the latter are
excluded from membership of committees. This distinction however denies the necessary councilor
– official interfacing (interaction) which is required for effective council administration.

2) Prefectorial Model

In this model, there is an elected council served by a political executive appointed by central
government. He is normally expected to have professional experience and has substantial authority.
The responsibility of this executive is to supervise the various departments and the appointed
officials

The local authorities utilizing this model stand to benefit from the presence of the prefectespecially
in terms of attracting central government funding. However, generally, the prefectorial model tends
to reduce local government to field administration with central government operating at the local
level under the disguise of the council. He has substantial authority in spite of the fact that he is
ultimately accountable to the elected Council.

The Committee System

Local authorities world over make extensive use of committees in their day to day operations.

According to Anstey (1962), a committee may be defined as a group of people appointed by some
other generally larger body to discuss matters within some field of reference with a view to making
group discussion and/or recommendations to the larger body. The committee system for local
authorities is an instrument of administration. It is through committees that the council exercises its
various responsibilities.

Composition of Committees

The committee will normally have a prescribed number of members of the council and also a

number of co-opted members.

It is normally a sound rule of local government practice that everything that can arise must be
referred to a specific committee. It is for this reason that it is usually provided that one committee
called the general purposes committee, charged with the responsibility of taking all matters not
assigned elsewhere.

Types of Committees

Generally, there are 3 basic types of committee systems, which can co-exist with any of the

local authority governance model (city).

1) The portfolio System:

Under this system, local authority organize committees in such a way as to correspond with
functional departments e.g. finance committee will deal with matters from the finance department.
Such committees also allow specialization and help members to provide accurate information on
departments for which they are responsible.

Portfolio committees facilitate the demarcation of clear boundaries of responsibility among various
committees.

2) The Geographical system

Under this system, local authorities arrange their committees according to geographical areas. The
system takes into consideration the uniqueness of the areas under the local authority‟s jurisdiction
such as size. Committee members are expected to be familiar and
deal with all the problems concerning areas for which they are responsible.

3) Issues Committee System:

Under this system, local authorities organize their committees according to related issues, problems
or tasks that cut across programmes or departmental activities. Examples of such committee include
those dealing with the issue of social welfare and crime. The arrangement of committees in this
manner takes into consideration the inter-connectedness of issues or problems across geographical
boundaries.

Role of Councillors

The role of elected councilors, as part of the governing body of a council, include the following:

1) They take active part in reviewing matters before their council and debating issues and participate
in councils‟ decision making processes;

2) They review councils‟ objectives and policies to ensure that they are appropriate for their local
area

3) Councilors review councils‟ resource allocation, expenditure and activities, and the efficiency and
effectiveness of its service delivery.

4) Attend council meetings (If a councilor is absent without leave for more than three consecutive
meetings over more than 3 months, council is able to declare that seat vacant);

5) Read and consider the agenda and reports before council meetings to be ready to constructively
take part in council debate.

6) Councilors are also critical in the making of by-laws and these are important as they
represent true legislation

7) councilors play a very important policy-making role, requiring the identification of community
needs, setting objectives to meet those needs, establishing priorities between competing demands
and allocating resources.

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE BUDGET PROCESS

Local government financial administration may be regarded as a sound planning and application of
all the financial resources of a local authority with the view to ensuring that all possible income is
collected and all the expenditure is aimed at securing value for the money.

Local government finances should be geared towards promoting the economic development of the
local community. Every local authority therefore must conduct its affairs in an effective, efficient and
economic manner with a view to optimizing resources in meeting its objectives. Effective financial
administration should be a must in any local government administration.

The ways in which elected and appointed officials ensure that financial respect is maintained has a
direct bearing on the local authority‟s ability and capacity to achieve services.

Effective financial administration should be about to provide financial advice to councilors so that
they may be able to make sound judgment of long term profits, provide financial information to
management in the most suitable form; and enhance routine centred to promote financial
transparency and accountability. In a local authority, adequate structure must be put in place to
ensure that expenditure is properly sanctioned and that collection of monies is carried out diligently
and honestly. Financial administration must ensure regularity and enforce accountability. A sense of
financial responsibility should be inculcated to every employee and not only restricted to finance
staff.

Central government being the creator of local authorities has an interest in their financial activities.
Consequently, local authorities are normally required to present their annual budgets for ministerial
approval. This is normally in addition to regular reporting. Some specific financial activities to central
government through the minister in charge of local government and to various financial committees
of central government are undertaken.

The Local Government Expenditure

Local government expenditure can be classified into two different categories namely: capital and
operating expenditure.

Capital Expenditure: May be defined as expenditure that is incurred in the acquisition of durable
assets such as building of a house or office block, the purchase of motor vehicles and other
machinery or the construction of a bridge. Generally, for an asset to be included in the capital
budget, it should have a life span of three years or more.

Operating Expenditure: Refers to the day to day expenditure of a local authority which includes
salaries and wages, general expenses, advertising etc.

The Budgetary Process

Local authorities like other organizations need to guide their revenue and expenditure through
budgets. A budget is a plan which shows how much money a local authority hopes to raise from its
own resources and from central government and how it will be spent.

According to Wildasky (1992), a budget is characterized by a series of goals with price tags attached.
Since funds are limited and have to be divided in one way or another, a budget becomes a
mechanism for making choices and alternative expenditures.

The local budget is also an instrument for short as well as long term policy planning. It fixes the rate
of taxes and enables councils to keep policy under constant review. In short, a budget is a plan of
action. In terms of the process itself, a budget starts from various sources.

1) Departments – makes their own estimates.

2) Spending committees

3) Finance committee

4) Council

In this process, the finance committee is very powerful and important committee. When the finance
committee is scrutinizing the budget, all chairpersons of spending committee shouldbe present.
Alternatively, each chairperson can be called when their proposals are under consideration.

Internal/External Financial Controls

Internal control is exercised by a council through the Finance committee and its officers, whereas
external control is through an independent audit.

There are two principles that run through all forms of internal financial controls which are as
outlined below:
i) All expenditure requires council authorization for any money spent on the affairs of the council, it
must be possible to point out the resolution which authorized that expenditure either directly or by
delegating its power to a committee.

ii) The payment of all sums to the council must be made to the treasurer and all payments out must
be made by the treasurer.

PARTICIPATION

The UNRISD define participation as the organized effort to increase control over resources and
regulation. It is a concept which represents the vehicle through which desired objectives such as
democratization, equity, human rights and sustainable development can be realized.

Dimensions of Participation

In this case, it is possible to distinguish different levels/dimensions or limits of participation. The can
refer to (dimensions) to:

1. Where in the project cycle participation occur: For Example implementation, monitoring or
evaluating levels.

2. The type of participation: participants can be passive, they can be informants or they can be
stakeholders with a voice in management decision making.

3. Social levels: In this case, we mean participation can occur at the national level, provincial level,
district level, sub district and even community. Regardless of the level or type of participation, there
is significant evidence that participation can in many circumstances improve the quality,
effectiveness and sustainability of projects and also strengthen ownership and commitment of
government and stakeholders.

Reasons for Participation

Benefits associated with participation are many and varied. They can however, be divided into three
basic categories.

1. Instrumental: Most people normally ask themselves what is it that they will gain by participating in
a given project or cause. In other words, individuals see participation as a means to achieve other
goals. Unless they are convinced that the goal can only be achieved through participation rather
than through individual efforts, most people are not likely to participate.
2. Developing effects: Participation has developmental or educative effects in that participants may
be developed in attitude, knowledge, skills and beliefs. By interacting with different participants,
individuals can develop democratic attitudes which enable them to tolerate different views from
their own.

3. Intrinsic value: Only people who participate are in a position to realize the rewards that are
associated with participation. People who participate in community activities for example stand to
gain from an enhanced feeling of ones own individual worthy and an increased sense of being part
of the community.

Costs for Participation

Costs to participation may be at an individual, group of national levels depending on the

circumstances.

Among other things, costs to participate may be in terms of time, economic loses, diseducative
effects or system strained.

Time: Most forms of participatory activities require participants to dedicate part of their time
towards the activity. Unless participants are able to receive some benefits of participating in the
activity, they are not likely to dedicate their time.

Economic loses: Time spent on participatory activities is an opportunity foregone with regard to the
use of such time for other economic gains.

Diseducative effects: Active participation in party policitics for example can result in high levels of
intolerance instead of learning to be tolerant of different views. Partisan politics can easily

degenerate into intolerance and hostility. Participation in politics is under normal circumstances
supposed to legitimatize a political system but highly politicized individuals can sometimes resort to
violence instead of legal options.

System strained: Active citizen participation in governance issues tends to weaken a political system
besides creating conflict between those who govern and the governed. Active participants not only
tend to demand more and more from the political system to also consider themselves as a source of
legislation. This situation usually results in the scarce national resources being stretched too thinly
and efforts being diverted from tasks which really matter to the welfare of the country.
Obstacles to Participation

The following are the likely obstacles to participation:

1. Poor/inadequate infrastructure: participatory activities which require people to move from one
place to another would benefit from the existence of an adequate and well maintained road/rail
work. Travel difficulties in getting to places for purposes of participation tend to discourage would-
be participants. Break down in or lack of effective communication systems also have a negative
impact on levels of participation.

2. Sophistication of project technology: Community projects which utilize relatively high levels of
technology are not likely to attract significant levels of participation from local people whose skills
may be quite limited.

3. Beneficiary organisation and project size: Well organized beneficiaries are more likely to make a
significant contribution to community projects than disorganized and ill-informed one. Smaller
projects also tend to encourage accessibility to beneficiaries and hence benefit from their active
participation.

4. Participation may be costly to the Donor Agency: Serious efforts to involve beneficiaries in project
planning and implementation requires willingness to invest in training, supportive research,
evaluation and also to provide staff skilled in developing patterns of social organisation and patience
in working to organise beneficiaries. These could be quite

costly.

5. Irrelevance of Proposed Participation: There is need to check out proposal for various kinds of
participation to ascertain the extent of relevance with regard to the would be participants.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS AN INSTRUMENT OF DEVELOPMENT.

THE MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The meaning of development may be difficult to pin-down but it points at some qualitative and
quantitative advancement in structures, values and skills in a society. It talks about growth,
modernization, urbanization, etc. It also talks about advancement, progress, increase,
transformation, etc. Development therefore is movement to a much more desirable stage than the
one presently experienced.

This is why scholars like Seen will ask of development questions like, what is happening to poverty?
What is happening to unemployment? Development is therefore supposed to tackle the obstacles by
the human and physical environment. Conquering this means making progress.
Overall, development should be improving the content and quality of life of individuals or groups or
the community as a whole. In local government, such areas where such improvement is required are
infrastructures like roads, markets, water, health and service areas like education, health, sanitation,
works, etc. These are breakdown of local government functions. The question is how have local
governments gone ahead to handle these projects and services and what has actually be delivered
and at what cost. The question of the impact of these services do not constitute part of this write-
up.

DEVELOPMENT POTENTIALS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT

You are very much aware of the capabilities of local government to bring about development in local
communities. These capabilities are based on their potentials. Such potentials are sourced from their
constitutional basis, their financial wherewithal their quality of personnel, the quality of leadership
and the support they get from the local communities. When these variables are rolled together in
some optimum mix, there should be no reason for performing its role of socio-economic
development. What is required of local government is how to plan for resources mobilization (both
funds and community resources) and translate these into services. Planning becomes the key
instrument here but as we said, it must be backed up by good or dynamic leadership and a good
human and capital resource base.

PLANNING AND THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Planning is considered as:

A proposal course of action of a person, group or government within a given environment, providing
obstacles and opportunities which the policy was proposed to utilize and overcome in an effort to
reach a goal or realize its objective or a purpose (Fredrick, 1963). Simply put it brings to focus, the
need to efficient allocation of scarce resources in any society or by every organization.

It therefore refers to the process of preparing a set of decisions for future action directed at
achieving goals by some means.

The key elements in a plan therefore are:

it has to do with the future

it is goaloriented

it is prescriptive (i.e. based on existing order, it prescribe steps to table for the

future)

Planning is an administrative and management ability undertaken by governments, organization and

groups. In planning or a planning document at the local government level, goes through the
following process:

a) The statement of goals (or objectives)

b) As analysis of system structure i.e. components of the problem and how they are interrelated.

c) Evaluation and selection of possible solution to problems

d) The design of the implementation procedure i.e. how these solutions are to be translated into
concrete actions.

In local governments, there are both short term plans (rolling plan, 3 years period) and (perspective
plans for much longer). All the national level, the perspective plan is between 15 – 20 years.

The importance of planning for development therefore is that the plan states its objectives in
relation to development, the activities to be engaged in and how they are arrived at, the cost of the
activities projects, and the strategies for implementing the activities.

It is these activities that translate into policies, programmes, sub programmes, and projects in local
governments. These are concretely conveyed or elaborated on by the local government budget
where concrete plan for the year is drawn and concrete projects and services are itemized including
their costs. The approval of this, kick-starts their implementation. Remember that such projects are
largely contained in the capital estimates of the local government. It is the implementation of these
that translate into infrastructural and other socio-economic development in the local government.
When particular projects in the plan cannot be implemented in a given year, it is rolled over into the
following year. (This is indeed the principle of the rolling plan). The question still remains – what
have local government been able to do with all their developmental capabilities and potential so far.