LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

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Date
1990-08
Authors
JATTO, TUNDE
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Abstract
Studies have shown that a large number of Community Development programmes initiated and planned by government officials in most third world countries, like Nigeria, have failed to achieve their stated objectives. Prominent among the factors responsible for the situation are: a) non-involvement of target communities in the initiation and planning of programmes and projects; b) lack of people's commitment to the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects as a result of (a) above; c) shortage of funds and gross mismanagement of the little available by government officials; d) lack of sincerity on the part of policy makers to improve the living standard of people at grassroots level. These factors or problems formed the bases of this thesis. This writer set out to investigate the extent to which any of these factors are responsible for the persistent failure of Community development efforts to improve the living standard of peolpe in Owan East and Etdako West Local Government Areas of Edo State In carrying out the investigation, efforts were made to sample the opinion of respondents in some selected communities through administration of questionnaire and interview. The writer also extract information from secondary sources after reviewing relevant literature. Our understanding of the real forces at work in the places of Study was enhanced by the theory of Participatory Democracy which we adopted as Theoretical Framework for this study. Data presented and analysed helped us to test the two hypotheses that were proposed, and we arrived at the following findings, among which are: First, there are shortage of adequate and skilled manpower in terms of educational qualifications and on-the-job training of employees in the two local government areas of our study which leaves much to be desired. For example, out of 262 total staff strength of Owan East Local Government, and 330 staff strength of Etsako West Local Government, 180 or 68.70% and 235 or 71.21%, respectively belong to the lower cadre, that is, level 01-06, majority of whom are labourers and artisans. In terms of training received on-the-job within the period of this study, only 25 or 9.54% and 31 or 9.39% of the total staff in Owan East and Etsako West Local Government Councils respectively have received on-the-job training. Secondly, there is inadequate finance which have a devastating effect on the amount spent on actual physical development. For example, 69.74% of the total revenue of Owan East Local Government was spent on recurrent expenditure while only a paltry sum of 33.02% of the total revenue was used for capital expenditure. And in Etseko West Local Go v e rnment C o u n ril, only 31.61% of the total revenue w a s s p e n t o n c a p ita l e x p e n d itu re w h ile 6 8 3 8% o f th e to ta l r e v e n u e w a s s e n t On recurrent expenditure. And thirdly, Owan East and Etsako West Local Government councils have done little to mobilise and/or involve the local people in the planning and implementation of projects that would enhance their desired development. On the basis of our findings, some of the following recommendations were made. And they are: i) Since manpower is one of the pillars upon which the performance of Local Government rests, more training centres should be established, and staff should be adequately trained and assured of good career prospects; ii) Federal and State Government statutory allocations should be reviewed upwards in order to enhance the general output or performance of Local Governments; and iii) The local people should be well-informed about government programmes, and also involved in the planning and implementation of development projects.
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BEING A THESIS SUBMITTED TO POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, MPA (LOCAL GOVERNMENT) DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STUDIES, INSTITUTE OF ADMINISTRATION, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, KADUNA STATE SEPTEMBER, 1999
Keywords
LOCAL,, GOVERNMENT,, COMMUNITY,, DEVELOPMENT:
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