Dec 07, 2020 improvement in local government remains a high priority in most countries, but unless the relationship between citizens and government is more fully developed the actions of local government will. According to the united nations office for public administration, local government is the political subdivision of a nation or in a federal system a state which is constituted by law and has substantial control of local affairs including the powers to impose taxes and exact labour. The right and actual capability of local government bodies to regulate and govern a. Administration is a long and slightly pompous word, but it has a humble meaning, for it means, to care for or look after people, to manage affairs is determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious purpose. This paper therefore, examines the crisis of corruption in nigerian local government administration. A local government is, at the grassroots level of administration, meant for meeting the peculiar needs of the people agagu, 1997. Local government, local governance and sustainable. It represents the microscopic interests of the locality leading to the broader concept of welfare and. In order to adequately assess the role of local government in the state mechanism it is required to understand the relationship between the concepts of local government and local selfgovernance.
Conceptual and theoretical underpinnings local government as a concept has attracted several definitions. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographicallylocalised and has limited powers. They are the governments closest and most accessible to you. In view of the above, finance has remained the most critical policy issue in the local government administration in nigeria. University of the philippines political science 150. The federal government is the sovereign national, the state government, a quasi sovereign and the local government, the infra sovereign.
Hence in his attempt to live a sedentary life, he began to think out ways to better his lots. Local government is the lowest in the governmental hierarchy within the concept of federalism. Abstract public administration campus, tribhuvan university, nepal local governance and decentralization are interrelated. The ministry for regional administration and local government is responsible for local government in mainland tanzania and currently sits within the prime ministers office. It appears that the structure of government does matter with respect to the quality of a society and its population. The concept of governance in most dictionaries government and governance are interchangeably used, both denoting the exercise of authority in an organization, institution or state. The term local government has been defined variously by different scholars. When the transition to democracy took place, south africa inherited a dysfunctional local govern. The most radical form of administrative decentralisation is devolution, with local government having full responsibility for hiringfiring of staff and assigning authority. The existence of modern already legal positivism, which enables morality or political. Community development as a concept can be said to be as old as the period man became settled. Issues in local government and urban administration in nigeria.
There is no precise definition of the concept of local government. Section 4 tests the predictions using econometric models of public investment and a database that comprises all bolivian municipalities. Others, like sdc, have linked decentralisation with local governance and worked more with establishing downward accountability to citizen levels as opposed to upward accountability from local elected governments to the central government level. From the administrative law it was defined the local governance definition. Deconcentration broadly means that, for the sake of convenience, some functions have been devolved from a central government to administration. The development of american local self government is inextricably linked to an expansive concept of citizen ship.
The concept of local governance has emerged due to the expansion of state functions and duties, and in order to consolidate citizens rights to and participation in the management of their affairs. In this dimension we define the importance of local governments relative to both the state economy and to higher levels of government. Improvement in local government remains a high priority in most countries, but unless the relationship between citizens and government is more fully developed the actions of local government will. Revenue generation and local government administration in. Concept of revenue generation in nigeria, local governments have never had the kind of financial importance they now recently enjoy. It is important to understand the functioning of administration for on this lies the understanding of the government. Governance from below a theory of local government with two. Regional governance is the process through which decisions are made that are explicitly meant to affect economic, social, environmental, and other important societal outcomes throughout the. Local authorities are multipurpose bodies responsible for delivering a broad range of services in relation to roads. Local government serves you local governments provide citizens with basic services such as education, fire and police protection, water, and sewage and sanitation. Today, such ad hoc planning as meade 2003 further argues, is.
The autonomy concept which is defined in the european charter of local self government as the right and opportunity for the local governments within the limits laid down by the laws to. Bryne 1981, for example, defines it as self government involving the administration of public affairs in each locality by a body of representatives of the local community. Local government is a key institutional mechanism for securing citizen participation in designing the instru. Using these insights, section 3 develops a theory of local government and derives predictions. There is little difference in either the composition or the functions and responsibilities of the two types of government. Problems of local government pdf download complete project. It is the only sphere of government that has the mandate to bring together a variety of sectoral issues within one developmental policy, programme or project. One recent attempt to redefine the concept of local government in nigeria was the popular slogan to make local government developmentoriented or to bring government closer to the. Local or municipal selfgovernment is a system of management of local affairs which is exercised by special elected bodies directly representing the population of particular administrativeterritorial unit of the country leybo and entin 291. Concept of local government administration the united nations division of public administration defines local government as a political subdivision of a nation constituted by law and vested with substantial control of local. A local government system in which local government is free to do what it wishes but has no possibility of doing anything important does not conform to our concept of local autonomy. Local government is an institution, which deals with matters concerning the people living in the particular locality. Some of the various definitions which have been offered for them are.
These are not called local governments but are known as state governments. Local governments also remain the focal point of promotion of development and cultural revival through community development projects and mobilization of human and material resources for developments. For further understanding, the significance of locallevel accountability can be explained in terms of its administrative, political, and economic dimensions. Government performance, civil society, decentralization, local governance. An assessment of internally generated revenue on local.
The concept of local government administration this refers to the third level of government besides the federal and state governments in nigeria that operates at a level close to the people mostly residing in town, communities and. There are a number of key factors that explain why local government. October 1985 cets 122 gives a general definition of local government which has become. The division of the local government into the tree categories of municipalities means that the local government in south africa is a mix of unitary and two tiered structures. According to the united nations office for public administration, local government is the political subdivision of a nation or in a federal system a state which is constituted by law and has substantial control of local affairs including the powers to impose taxes and exact labour for prescribed purposes. The position of this paper therefore is that local. Fiscal autonomy and local government administration in. Local government may be loosely defined as a public organization authorized to decide and administer a limited range of public policies within a relatively small territory which is a subdivision of a regional or national government. The challenge for local government in south africa is not to create new institutions to promote public participation, but question this concept critically in order to determine its true nature and intent, as well as examine the reality of the implementation of public. According to the encyclopedia of social sciences, local government may be loosely defined as a public organization authorized to decide and administer a limited range of public policies within a relatively small territory which is a subdivision of a regional or national government. The importance of local government is based on several key factors. Administration refers to the process of running an organisation, office or business. Local government is that part of the whole government of a nation or state which is administered by authorities subordinate to the state authority, but elected independently of control by the state authority, by. Nigerian local government national open university of.
Local governments have always been involved in planning, although the planning approach adopted could often be termed ad hoc, as it emerged in response to putting out some bush fire that was starting to interfere with the normal daytoday work of administration meade. Local authorities are created to render services in defined. The substance of local government administration in nigeria. The reforms which gave recognition to local governments as the third tier of government whereby government activities at the local level were taken care of.
This idea of local government by awa 1981, has been reinforced by the federal republic of nigerian guidelines for local government in nigeria which elaborately defined local government as government at local level exercised through representative councils established by law to exercise specific powers within defined areas. This act shall be known and cited as the local government code of 1991. To learn more about how local governments affect you, view the democracy in action chapter 24 video lesson. The local government system in tanzania count ofil 201718. In this unit an effort has been made to bring the concept of administration, public administration in particular, closer to you. This leadership theory of decentralization does not say that local government will be less. In a federal political system like nigeria, state and local governments deserve attention in of themselves. These distinctions are important, even if they are blurred. Administration defined the concept of administration is defined by various writers in the following ways. Clgf local government system in south africa, sine anno. The following definition of local governance is used in the charter. Local government, local governance and sustainable development.
Public administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. Local government definition of local government local government is a management model of democratic governance. If this is the case, it thus appears as if the argument by the like of souza. Go od governance the concept the concept of good governance emerged mainly because practices of bad governance, characterized by corruption, unaccountable governments and lack of respect for human rights, had become increasingly dangerous, and the need to intervene in such cases had become urgent. There are currently in total 284 municipalities in south africa21. In the view of a scholar like wraith, local government refers to locally elected councils. Austin state university, department of government, nacogdoches, texas 75962, usa. Authority can most simply define as legitimate power. In 1976, the federal military government then issued guidelines on local governments reforms.
Politically, local government council should be accountable to the electorates. A qualitative study of chieftaincy and local government in ghana. Local governments are groundwork and the series of reforms that have given created with the ultimate goal of bringing government birth to the concept of local government administration in closer to the people at the grassroots. Governance from below a theory of local government.
However, the concept of local government involves a philosophical commitment to democratic participation in the governing process at the grassroots level. Therefore local government administration can be understood as operations of the government at local level. Concept of local government administration the united nations division of public administration defines local government as a political subdivision of a nation constituted by law and vested with substantial control of local affairs including the power to impose tax or. In order to understand the function and structure of local government, it is important to define local government and understand the meaning of local government democracy and values. Local government and community development project topics. The local government in nigeria was established for the purpose of rendering services and supplying amenities to the people in both rural and urban areas according to the document establishing the local government reforms in 1976. This principle of mass participation is central in the objectives of the local government reforms of 1976 which among its objectives are to our society and to mobiles of the members of. Local government administration and development african. Local government and decentralization in ghana kwame badu antwiboasiako stephen f.
All over the world and especially in africa, local government is seen as a means of enhancing development and service delivery, improve governance and. New concepts and practices in local public administration in the philippines, in ipap2, pp. In 1988, another reform of local government was established. At the same time, the states have separate legislatures that form the centre of governance. Dynamics of public participation in local government. Local government, local governance and sustainable development getting the parameters right introduction since 1994, south africa has experienced a steep learning curve with regard to institutional design in general, and local government in particular. Local governance capacitybuilding for fullrange participation. There werethe existence of emirate systems of sokoto and borno caliphates. Deconcentration broadly means that, for the sake of convenience, some functions have been devolved from a central government to administration on the spot. Local factors such as geography, the environment, economic opportunities and health can be better taken account of by local governments charged with making decisions that affect. The existence of modern already legal positivism, which enables. The right and actual capability of local government bodies to regulate and govern a considerate portion of public affairs, acting within the law at their own responsibility and for the benefit of local community part 1, article 3 of the charter. Thirdly, since local government is based on small units of local needs, it engenders greater participation of local people in the management of their affairs. This article tries to analyze the concept of local government and also present the definition of different scholars in the field of public administration and political science.
Public administration is an aspect of a more generic concept of administration. Local government is often, but not necessarily, related to the former. The modern concept of democratic government was shaped to a large extent by ideas. Firstly, local government is intrinsically multisectoral. The genesis of local government administration in nigeria dates back to precolonial period. Local government is the bottom of a pyramid of government. Concept paper on decentralisation and local governance.
Review of public administration and management vol. Therefore, more quantitative and qualitative research is needed at the local government level to better understand how capacity translates into greater government effectiveness. The concept of local government the performance of local governments has been receiving increasing attention in nigeria over the past decades, from both academic and civil society sectors. Local government tiers are politicaladministrative levels of a territorial division of. The term local government has been defined in various ways by public administrators, political scientist, writers and scholars according to ogunna 1988, it is a political authority, purposely created by the state government under a law by. Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. The sharing of responsibilities and authority for local governance are broadly defined in the constitutions of a given country. The main governing legislation is the organic law on provincial governments and local level governments 1995 and the local level governments administration act 1997.
Local government is the system of locally elected members representing their communities and making decisions on their behalf. Below the state governments lie the local government. Proserpina tapales, the nature and state of local government, in ipap3, pp. The prime attribute of local government is the authority to endorse legislation in specific control and hence autonomy is enjoyed in a measured way. Local government administration in nigeria and community.
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