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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Article
Author(s)
Jacob Olufemi Fatile & Kehinde David Adejuwon
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DOI:10.17265/1548-6605/2017.11.004
Affiliation(s)
ABSTRACT
The main objective of the paper is to examine the place of local
government in intergovernmental relations with particular
reference to South Africa and Nigeria. The paper adopts the qualitative research approach. It draws its arguments basically from secondary data including existing legal frameworks
and other related policies, textbooks, journals articles and other
publications. The paper notes that in either a unitary or federal
polity, local government serves as incubators for experimental policies which
can be reproduced at the national level. This is premised
on the idea that it is the level of government that is better placed to
effectively formulate and implement development policies and programmes that
can efficiently solve problems of service
delivery at local level. However, this idea seems defeated by the nature of
intergovernmental relations in most developing societies. The paper observes
that the nature of intergovernmental relations in
Nigeria has over the years eroded the powers and functions of local government
administration and has subsequently relegated this level of government to
a subsidiary or an appendage of the state and central governments while there
is cooperation between local, provincial and national governments in South
Africa. The paper notes that while local government in South Africa enjoy autonomy to a certain extent, local governments in Nigeria
are not enjoying true autonomous status as a result of excessive interference
from other levels of government. The paper recommends among others that there
is an urgent need to devolve more responsibility and autonomy to local
government authorities through a constitutional
amendment to enable them to function
effectively and efficiently. It concludes that local governments in South
Africa and Nigeria have crucial roles to play in the developmental process
provided there is the peaceful atmosphere and adequate autonomy
through harmonious intergovernmental relations among various levels of
government.
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