ACCOUNTABILITY AND SERVICE DELIVERY IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION IN NIGERIA: PANACEA TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

In the current drive for sustainable development through grassroots engagements in
Nigeria, one may want to ask how accountable are locally elected government officials in
the delivery of local public good? And giving the role of grassroots population in the
development process, what is the impact of intergovernmental fiscal relations on service
delivery in the local government? These questions are important becauseseveral
developmental prognoses emphasize the need to decentralize responsibility for local
public services to local institutions; and, in the absence of sufficient local revenue
potential, to explore ways of financing this decentralization through state to local
government transfers.This approach will enable local government play the role of the
primary drivers of development at the grassroots because accountability and service
delivery are crucial in the entrenchment of good governance.Accordingly,this paper
examines the problems of accountability in Nigerian local government administration
and how it has affected sustainable development in Nigeria. It used a qualitative
analytical method to draw on available secondary data and existing literature on the
state of governance and service delivery in local governments in Nigeria. It found that
the local government councils in the country are not accountable to the people hence the
inadequacy of service delivery at the grassroots.It recommends that the utilization of
local administrations for sustainability of people driven development inNigeria should
be efficiently pursued and prudently sustained.Furthermore, expenditure assignment
should match with revenue generating capability in order for local governments to
discharge their functions effectively. In essence, revenue and expenditure
decentralization must support local government public revenue profile. In this sense, their
share of total public sector expenditure should be substantially increased through
increase allocation from the federation accounts.