Who creates local government and what are the criteria for local government creation in Nigeria (eBook)

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 87%, Obafemi Awolowo University, course: Management Problems in Nigeria Local Government, language: English, abstract: The yearnings for development in rural communities and urban localities have increased call for more local government creation in Nigeria. However, the question of who creates local government remains one of the controversies of the contemporary Nigerian federal arrangement. The study analyses the question of local government creation in Nigeria and the criteria for such creation.

Local government creation in Nigeria has been through numerous experiences that we tend to ask at some points in time: “who creates local government?” Numerous attempts have been geared towards bringing government nearer to the people at the most basic level. The importance of bringing government nearer to the people cannot be overemphasized. This translates to bringing services of great importance to the welfare and livelihood of the community. Such services have high positive implication on the standard of living of the people at this primary level of administration.
The Nigerian experience has brought another dimension to discourse of local government being a residual affair of the state government as it is obtainable in classic federal states like United States, Canada amongst others. In other words, creation of local government is the prerogative of state, provincial or regional government. The Nigerian case through the local government creation tussle between the federal government and Lagos State government has left many wondering which level of government wields the power to create local government.
This paper seeks to answer the shrouding question of ‘who creates Local Government?’ and highlight the criteria for creating local government in Nigeria. It does this through its various parts.