Impact of Financial Control Mechanisms on Local Government Autonomy in Delta State
ABSTRACT
The study was on the Impact of Financial Control Mechanisms on Local Government Autonomy in Delta State, Nigeria, 1999-2008.
The general objective of the study was to establish the nature of relationship between financial control mechanisms and autonomy with a view to exposing the contradictions between policy objectives of government and the actual realisation of the objectives of local government in Delta State.
The specific objectives of the study were to: identify the existing financial control mechanisms put in place by both Federal and State Governments and the effects of these mechanisms on autonomy;
examine how the whittling down of autonomy of local governments as a result of financial control mechanisms affect service delivery; and recommend measures to ameliorate the negative effects of financial control mechanisms on efficient service delivery in Delta State Local Governments.
The data for this study were gathered through questionnaires, interviews, books, journals, government publications, and internet materials.
Tables and frequency distribution were used for data presentation. Simple percentages and content analysis techniques were adopted for data analysis.
From the findings, 234 respondents, representing 71% agreed that the constitutional powers granted state governments to make laws for the establishment of the structure, composition,
finance and functions of local government has whittled down the autonomy of local government while 206 respondents, representing 62% felt that Joint Allocation Committee (JAC) had more devastating effect on local government financial autonomy.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The public sector is usually stratified even for countries with unitary government such as United Kingdom, Ghana, Kenya, Togo etc.
The whole process of decision-making, for any nation, depends on the miscellany of national experiences in nation building.
For example, in the unitary system there may be national, provincial, district and municipal levels of governance. The smallest unitary form of governance consists of only two levels of stratification – the national and the various local governments (e.g. Municipalities, townships etc).
The level of decentralized fiscal decision-making and operations are basically three in federal systems of government such as in United States, Australia, Canada, India, and Nigeria among other countries. In federations, the main levels of government are federal, regional (state), and the various local governments.
Thus, a Federal State is one with a system of multi-levels/multi-units government involving political decentralisation of socio-economic responsibilities, functions, authority and power (Agiobenebo, 1999: 26).
The purpose of dividing government into many tiers is to facilitate prompt delivery of developmental objectives via the division of work, authority and resources.
The system of relations between the tiers, the control mechanisms in place, in a given political system, is usually reflected in its constitutional provisions specifying their establishment, structure, composition, finance and functions.
In this context, local governments, the world over, are known as a sub-national unit of a unitary or federal nation – state legally conferred specific powers and functions.
Bibliography
Adebayo, A. (1982), Principles and Practice of Public Administration in Nigeria, Ibadan: Spectrum Books.
Agiobenebo, T. J. (1999) Assignment, Criteria and the Fiscal Constitution: An Excursion into A Theory of Rational Fiscal Federalism, in Fiscal Federalism and Nigeria’s Economic Development, Ibadan: (NES) Secre-Print Nigeria Ltd.
Anikpo, M. (2006), Foundation of Social Science Research, Port Harcourt: Uniport Press.
Anyanwu, J. C. (1991) Fiscal Relations Among the Various Tiers of Government in Nigeria, in the Fiscal Federation and Nigeria’s Economic Development, Ibadan: Nigeria Economic Society, Secre-Print Nigeria Ltd.
Asika, N. (2006), Research Methodology in Behavioural Science, Ikeja: Longman (Nig.) Plc.
Bello – Imam, I. B. (1996) Local Government in Nigeria, Evolving a ThirdTier of Government, Ibadan: Heineman Educational Books (Nig) Ltd.
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