0 Meaning of Local Government
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
which local communities within a definite area are organized to manage their own
affairs within the limit of the law under which the authority is created. In the words of
Okoli (1983), it is a process of devolution of power to the local authority to provide
services of local nature. Alao (1986), viewed it as a government of grassroots which is
designed to serve as “instrument of rural transformation”. In his own contributions,
Golding (1981), viewed it as a political authority set up by a nation or state as
subordinate authority for the purpose of dispersing or decentralizing political power.
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. These powers should give the council substantial control over local affairs,
(including staffing) and institutional and financial powers to initiate and direct the
provision of services and to determine and implement projects so as to complement
the activities of the state and federal governments in their areas and to ensure, through
devolution of functions to these councils and through the active participation of the
people and their traditional institutions, that local initiative and response to local needs
and conditions are maximized” Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Local government therefore plays crucial role in rural as well as urban
development the world over. The importance of local government in rural
development process made AbubakarRimi to remark as far back as 1978 thus, “Local
government is the most important government of our land. The local government is
the nearest a 9nd most immediate government for the man. The man in my village
does not care about who the president is. He doest not even care about who the
governor of Kano State is. He cares only about those who are counselors and
chairman of his local government” (constituent Assembly: 1978:994). Local
government is therefore, a powerful instrument of rural and urban development.