AN APPRAISAL OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS AN AGENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (A CASE OF OWERRI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL)

ABSTRACT

The living condition of Nigerians in most communities of the Federation are quite unpleasant in massive rural urban drift. Most community reads are quite unmotorable, often neglected and poorly maintained. Medical and health communities. Many inhabitants of various communities, many inhabitants of various communities in Nigeria are victims of illiteracy, political ignorance are political apathy. They are rural poverty and no programme for rural poverty alleviation. However, the focus of this research is to assess the problems of local Government Agent of community development of ensuring that the expectations of the rural populace are met and to find out how these efforts have facilities rural community development. This research through has been limited to Owerri municipal Local Government Area of Imo state, will also surge into knowing why all the huge statutory allocation from the federation accounts have not provided maximum development in the Imo state and why some local Government develops at the expense of others.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Title page                                                      

Certification                                                           ii

Dedication                                                             iii

Acknowledgement                                                  iv

Abstract                                                                v

Table of contents                                                    vii

CHAPTER ONE

1.0          Introduction                                            1

1. Background of the study                            1
2. Statement of problems                             3
3. Objectives of the study                              4
4. Research questions                                   4
5. Significance of the study                            5
6. Scope of the study                                   6
7. Limitations  of the study                            6
8. Definition of terms                                    7

CHAPTER TWO

• Literature Review                                      9
• Introduction                                             9
• The problems of Local government   in community development                        10

• Definition of the term local government              10
• The councils contribution   to community development.         13

• The principle of using public funds                      14
• Local government as indispensable for engineering rural/community development                    20
• The importance of local government            21
• Local government strategic position            25
• Provision of social services and improvement if infrastructures in local government.          27

References                                              

CHAPTER THREE

• Research design and methodology                     33
• Introduction                                             33
• Research design                                       33
• Sources/methods of data collection                    33
• Population and Sample size                        34
• Sampling technique                                   36
• Validity and reliability of measuring instruments                              36

• Method of data  analysis                                   37

CHAPTER FOUR

• Presentation and analysis of data                 38
• Introduction                                             38
• Presentation of data                                  38
• Analysis of data                                        38
• Interpretation of results                             42

CHAPTER FIVE

• Summary, conclusion and recommendation  45
• Introduction                                             45
• Summary of Findings                                45
• Conclusion                                               46
• Recommendation                                      47

References                                               49

Appendix                                                 52

Questionnaire                                           55

CHAPTER ONE

• INTRODUCTION
  • BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

One of the major objectives of any nation is to promote the welfare of the citizenry. The basic of these problems of local government agent of community development is the need to formulate policies and programmes that will rise and sustain the people’s quality of life. To stress the sanctity of these objectives, Nigerian’s through their respective, entrenched this in the fundamental objectives and directives principle of state policy”. These ideas are supposed to act across the three levels of government in Nigeria because more Nigerians live in Imo state. The rural are as have contributed to remain underdeveloped and the forces that have helped to debase the periphery and which have kept to area physically, economically, socially and politically. “wretched” need to be redressed local government is the level of government in Nigeria that is closest to the unseen million trapped in poverty”. [Bell 1 man 1990-54] by virtue of its rural base in most notion states, it acts as a vehicle for rural inquiring and transformation. As the last tier of the national government is better place to bring about the require development projects by way of mobilizing the human and material resources and for better communication between the government and the governed. The Imo state has continued to serve as the food basket of Nigeria. And an appropriate self conscious and determined effort is not directed towards the upliftment of the wretched condition of the Imo state. The development of the nation state will continue to lay behind. There can therefore be no other way of stimulating national development without developing the rural communities first. These has been enclosed by Bell – I man (1990:45) where he said that;

These are million of unseen people tapped in powerless, compared with urban areas, there is comparative underdevelopment in the Imo state. Since Owerri municipal local government Area involved both the legislative and executive process operating under democratic principle of popular participation of local; people in the management of their local affairs, it is expected to make policies and play roles that could facilitates and ensure an accelerated development of its rural communities.