Merits & Demerits of local Government Proliferation

Following the unification of local government in Nigeria in 1976, there was an obvious need to create more local government areas in Nigeria. The advantages of local government proliferation include:

1. Government at the Door Step: Creation of local government areas helps to bring government closer to the people, it also help government to understand the need of the local people and ways to provide those vital needs. Prior to this policy of creation of more local government areas in the country, there were few local government areas with large population and landmass. This made the implementation of government policies cumbersome and did not percolate easily to the grassroots.
2. Training Ground for Politicians: Local government proliferation in Nigeria has help to create avenue for the training of young aspiring politicians. It has brought about the involvement and training of more future politicians in the grassroots.
3. Poverty Alleviation: The easiest way to alleviate the suffering of the people is to bring government closer to the people. Creation of local government areas closer to the people will help to create more job opportunities for the people in the grassroots and makes the distribution of nation wealth easier.
4. Resources Mobilization: The creation of more local government areas brought about the easiest and variable channel of mobilizing the grassroots populace. Federal and State government policies would permeates fast to greater chunk of the population as local government is a veritable platform for grassroots mobilization.
5. Political Participation: The creation of more local government areas provided elective principle where people can vote and be voted for. It also provided for party politics where different parties compete for elective positions.
6. Efficient Service Delivery: The creation of more local government areas is an effective channel for efficient service delivery for the local people in the grassroots.
7. Even Development: local government proliferation helps to ensure an even distribution of countries wealth evenly to the local population in the grassroots.

Disadvantages of Local Government Proliferation in Nigeria

The local government proliferation in Nigeria has its own disadvantages which includes;

1. Lack of Available Manpower: Some local government areas were created without enough intellectual manpower to run the affairs of the local administration. Most of the time, illiterates are the ones heading the helm of affairs, which makes the administration of local government ineffective.
2. Enviable Local Government Areas: Some local government areas were created without due consideration to the viability of such areas. Every local government should have a good measure of human and material resources to carry out its constitutional functions.
3. No Space for Development: Some of local government areas were created without enough land for expansion. If any local government is stunted in development, it will lose its purpose for creation.
4. Politicization: Local government creation in Nigeria is marred by negative polarization. Some local government areas were created with recourse to the principles guiding such creation. Some influential politicians got local government, in the name where his residence was everything about the local government area.

In conclusion, any local government created with reference to the guidelines will remain a clearing house of federal and state financial allocation for selfish and dubious politicians.

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• How the Central Government Controls the local Government
• Local Government | Definition, Characteristics & Problems
• Features of 1976 Local Government Reform in Nigeria
• Sources of revenue for local Government
• Reasons why the Civil Service Operations are ineffective and inefficient
• Factors affecting local government performance in Nigeria
• Local Government Autonomy