CONSTRAINTS ON EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT POLICY-MAKING IN NIGERIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS (A CASE STUDY OF ENUGU EAST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ENUGU STATE)

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the Constraints of Effective Development Policy-Making in Nigeria Local Governments (A Study of Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State).The pace at which development in the local government can be realized is hinged essentially on the ability of the government to formulate appropriate and effective development policies. Determining the reasons why development policies are hardly achieved in the local government formed the main objective of the study. The literature review was anchored on the Hybrid theory. In carrying out this study, the descriptive research design was adopted. The population of the study was 562 (five hundred and sixty two) as at April, 2018 out of which the sample size of 233(two hundred and thirty three) was derived using the Yamane’s formula. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in determining the number of questionnaire administered to respondents. Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used for data collection. Data were gathered for the study with a well structured 5 point Likert scale questionnaire. The tool used for data analysis was simple percentage. The basic finding is that there exists, indeed, some factors that constitute serious obstacles to effective development policy making in Nigeria local governments, one of which is the varying levels of interference from politicians and state government. The study concluded that interference from the state government influences effective development-policy making in the local government. The study recommended that the local government should be allowed to function more independently with little or no interference to ensure effective development policy-making.

CHAPTER ONE

 INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the Study

The local government has most often been described by many authors and scholars as the government at the grass root because it is the closest to the people in comparison to the state and Federal government. The existence of this tier of government  in Nigeria dates back to the activities of the British colonialist and their quest to bring down government closer to the local people in other to maintain law and order as it where in those days.  As Olasupo and Fayomi (2012) pointed that “prior to independence and the prolonged civil war, Nigerian local government system was essentially de-concentrative but in 1976, it became devolved and “should do precisely what the word government implies i.e., governing at the grassroots or local level” Today, the local government have metamorphosed in to a more sophisticated administrative institution charged with the responsibility to perform not only administrative duties, but also engage in the development of the local area in which it is mapped out to serve. The importance of local government is a function of its ability to generate sense of belongingness, safety and satisfaction among its populace.  All forms of government, regimes or political systems have so far ensured the attainment of this goal. Such strategy for ensuring national development and political efficacy is found in the concept and Practice of local government. Whatever is the mode of government; local government has been essentially regarded as the path to, and guarantor of, national integration, administration and development (Omatsola, 2011). To achieve the speedy development of the local government, a well articulated action plan in the form of developmental public policies/ programs must be enthroned. Public policy guides and determines present and future public decisions as well as private individual or private business institutional actions, decisions or behavior.  In essence, a public policy determines the activities of government and given private institutions in relation to providing services designed to solve a given problem (Ugwuanyi and Chukwuemeka, 2013). Being an administrative/ governing institution,  the local government through the policy making process, articulates the developmental needs of the people and then try to use the resources available to them to accomplish these policies. Over time, it has become glaring to administrators and scholars that the challenge of policies in most developing nations of the world and Nigeria as well has remained the divergence between policy intent and policy outcome. This is as a result of the gap in implementation. In the words of Dialoke,Ukah  and Maduagwuna (2017) Implementation gap manifests in the widening of the distance between stated policy goals and the realization of such planned goals. The implementation gap from policy formulation in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized as successive governments make policies that are not realizable throughout their tenure.

 It is very clear from records that Nigeria over the years has initiated well articulated developmental, economic and social policies, intended to launch the nation on the path of meaningful development.