Abstract
This study assessed the performance of Egeidimu local government in service delivery with a specific focus on the resident of the local government. It sought to identify services delivered by local government and to ascertain the impact of the services on the wellbeing of the people. Two sets of questionnaires were designed and administered i.e. one for the inhabitants of the area and the other for employees of the local government, so as to capture both the views of the inhabitants of the area and the employees of the local government.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Title page
Approval page
Dedication
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Table of content
CHAPETR ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
1.2 Statement of problem
1.3 Objective of the study
1.4 Research Hypotheses
1.5 Significance of the study
1.6 Scope and limitation of the study
1.7 Definition of terms
1.8 Organization of the study
CHAPETR TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
CHAPETR THREE
3.0 Research methodology
3.1 sources of data collection
3.3 Population of the study
3.4 Sampling and sampling distribution
3.5 Validation of research instrument
3.6 Method of data analysis
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
4.1 Introductions
4.2 Data analysis
CHAPTER FIVE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Summary
5.3 Conclusion
5.4 Recommendation
Appendix
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
Local government is the third tier of government in Nigeria Federal Structure. The local government from the early years of their existence perform some local functions within their areas of jurisdiction. The local government being the government nearest to the populace, is one of the best agencies for generating motivations and encouraging mobilization for self-help as well as including the much needed wider participation of the local population in the decision making process at the local level. [Ukah, 2012] Assessments is used to measure a council's ability to engage and lead their communities and deliver priorities in partnership with other stakeholders. On this front, the assessment looks at the council's ambitions, priority setting, performance management and actual achievements. Performance assessment seeks to provide an overall assessment of a council's performance through a combination of assessment and performance indicators for key services. The results give local residents an opportunity to gauge service delivery in their area, and give councils a focus for improvements
Local governments in the Nigeria are responsible for a wide range of services, including education, social services, works, planning, education, agriculture, and health. They also have a role in seeking to promote economic growth and providing community leadership
Various experiments or reforms has been introduced over the years to strengthen local government as the third tier of the Federal grid. Unfortunately, as Alex Gboyega has argued, none of these produced a satisfactory system of local government. The Obasanjo Administration in 1976 underwent the comprehensive local government reforms, given local government exclusive legislative authority over a wide range of functions. Local government underwent more autonomy-building reforms in the 1980s and 1990s with the phenomenal increase in the number of local governments from 301 in 1976 to 774 in 1996. Lagos state is the smallest state in Nigeria, yet it has the highest urban population of 9,013,534 according to the 2006 national census. It is the most economically important state in Nigeria. In 2003, the Lagos state government through the state House of Assembly split the existing 20 local government areas into Local Council Development Areas for administrative purposes by creating additional 37 LCDAs.
Egbe/Idimu Local Council Development Area, is one of the 37 local councils that was created by the state House of Assembly, through section 7 {1} of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which empowers a state`s House of Assembly to make laws to ensure local government existence, structure, finances and functions.
The law states that the “system of local government is by democratically elected government councils” According to Eghosa E. Osaghae, local governments are units of decentralization created and superintended by state governments and fall under their jurisdiction competence.
The constitution tends to subsume local government under the state government, hence limiting the relative autonomy needed by the councils for effective operations.
There is need for an assessment that will set minimum conditions that ensure proper use of the funds allocated to local governments and explore how the concept of a multi-dimensional measurement can be applied to performance assessment in public services. This helps to frame comparative and longitudinal analyses of approaches to performance assessment and draws attention to public service performance at different levels, how they change over time and what drive their development
To assess performance we need to assess how well government has used public money. This project therefore pulls together information on three other factors:
Accountability: That citizens can easily monitor the implementation and expenditure of local government, we need to know if there is a potential ‘spending gap’ emerging, due to spending and the demand for services that is changing at different rates.
Decision Making: To put in place good mechanisms for communication and sharing of information with the public, that is citizens should have good access to information on local government plans and budgets, expenditures and achievements.
Effective Use of Resources: That both the human and material resources are judiciously utilized and to put in place capacity development plan for the staff training. Local government administration in Nigeria has had a tortuous history. It is an important process of government with significant consequences for national development. It is about mobilization of human and material resources at the grassroots level for societal progress and development. Local government is supposed to be broadly participatory and responsive to the needs of the people at the local community levels, such as villages and towns. Yet, during the period when the British colonized Nigeria and the mid 1970‟s when a major reform initiative was launched, local government administration was essentially undemocratic and authoritarian, either directly colonial in nature, or in indirectly so, but indeed undemocratic, under various traditional governance authorities referred to as Native Administration by the British colonial rulers (Jega, 2006:1). The local government reforms introduced by the Murtala/Obasanjo military regime in 1976, sought to democratize the system, by introducing elective offices, and also tried to use the new system „to bring government nearer to the people‟ for the purpose of „grassroots‟ development (FRN, 1976).The desire by the government to maximize rural and grassroots development is one of the major objectives of local government system in Nigeria. The above role is very significant because 70% of the country‟s population live and operate within this area (Ibok, 2010:12) Historically, local government developed as an institution for the provision of essential services to the people especially at the grassroots. Through series of reforms over the years, the system has undergone so many changes in respect of structure and function. In Omenka‟s view (cited in Tativ, 2011:2), the reforms were necessitated by the need to properly define the various organs and functionaries of local government because of the realization that local government is an essential instrument of service delivery. According to the fourth schedule of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,the exclusive function of local government includes, economic planning, collecting taxes, rates and the provision of social amenities like market, feeder roads, health services, portable water etc. among others. These functions simply defined the rationale behind the existence of local government system in Nigeria. Local governments have a role to play in the economic development of any nation. Constitutionally, they should provide for the democratic representation of local communities. This role covers a wide range of responsibilities and services which impact heavily on the livelihoods of individuals. They are, for example, key to determining where infrastructure should be located, to protect our environment and to provide services which are crucial to quality of life-primary schools, primary healthcare facilities, drinking water, recreational facilities, roads and other services. It is therefore expected that local government as sub-units should collaborate with the national government in the delivery of services towards the sustenance of democratic process. Scholars have argued that democratic governance and service delivery at the local government level is the vital tool for the social, political and economic development of Nigeria as a whole. It is worthy to note that Nigeria has been under military rule for a long time since 1966 and anytime there was a transition to civil rule raises citizen’s expectation. The return to civil rule in 1999 after long years of military rule ushered in high citizen’s development expectations at all levels of the three tiers of government. This is consistent with what democracy theoretically is all about and entails better life-participation, freedom, accountability of political leaders etc. This was the particular case in 1999 i.e. a revolution of expectations by citizens. After few years of civilian rule, political executives and politicians in general started to place high emphasis on their achievements at all levels of government. The study examines this issue at the local government level with an empirical focus on Egbeidimu area council of Lagos state. As an urban local government, it has a high population, diversities, complexities and demand for wide range of services due to its urban/metropolitan nature. There is however, a serious controversy among scholars and administrators including the general populace in respect to the actual performance of local government in Nigeria, as a grassroots government. This is particularly with reference to service delivery. To some observers and administrators the system is an embodiment of failure and a symbol of confusion, mediocrity, inefficiency and waste (Obasanjo, 2003, Tafida, 2005). There is a general low opinion about the role of local government as an agent of development and service delivery since the return to civil rule in 1999, while the politicians have orchestrated that there have been glaring service delivery, others are skeptical. In other words, virtually all the three levels of government have not satisfactorily performed genuine developmental roles. The idea and practice of localizing government is a universal and age-old phenomenon. In Nigeria, before the emergence of the contemporary state system, governance in all originality was locally or community based. With the emergence of the state system, local government still finds a place in the scheme of things. The philosophy of localizing governance in the modern day setting as most scholars have concurred is anchored on the need to bring government closer to the people (Mills, Janda, Barry, & Goldman, 2000; Ajayi, 2004; Kolawole, 2003; Ola, 2004). Thus even as its functions and relevance sometimes overlap with those of other levels government, it is still seen as a contrivance that will not only engender development and make governance more efficient and effective, but equally compatible with a majoritarian view of democracy (Janda, Barry, & Goldman, 2000, p. 122). After close to two decades of military repressive rule (1983-1999) Nigeria was again returned to democratic rule in 1999. When the new democratic dispensation was about to take-off, expectations of the citizens were high in respect of the responsiveness of the democratic government at all levels that were to succeed the military rulers. Indeed, it was a general presupposition that the incoming democratically elected government would envelope and deliver to the people good governance. While it is acknowledged that democracy is not a destination, it was still assumed that, democratic rule would usher in good governance at all levels. However, the report card has not portended flying colours for all the tiers of government in the country namely: Federal, State, and local government. In discussing the matter of good governance, veiled reference is usually made to the evaluation of the performance of the local government. Whereas, the national picture of governance ought to be a cumulative performance of all the tiers of the government in the country. It is in recognition of this fact that this paper has chosen to examine good governance at local level with emphasis on the constraining factors that have impeded or imposed the present level of development and quality of governance at the local level under the nascent democratic dispensation which was instituted in 1999.
- STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The study assessed the nature of services delivered by the Egbeidimu local government vis-à-vis its financial allocations since the return to civil rule in 1999-2011. The expediency for the existence of local government anywhere in the world stems from the need to facilitate development at the grassroots. Within this understanding, local governments were created in Nigeria as a third tier of government to ensure effective, measurable and efficient service delivery to communities. Some of the services expected from local government authority include; Primary Education, Feeder Roads, Culvert and Bridges, Agricultural and Natural Services and Health Care Services etc. Since the return to civil rule in 1999. Scholars and Practitioners have made different claims in respect of the performance of local government system in Nigeria; Performance assessment in local government is to promote accountability to the stakeholders, in other to reduce corruption that affect performance and functions of local government. Lack of public accountability and lack of transparency leads to lack of significant economy and political development which has hinder local government performance over the years. On all the impediment that affect the performance of local government, corruption seems to be the most damaging factor. Other problems hindering local government performance are: Mismanagement and resources constraint, Limited technical competencies, Political and fiscal subordination to state and federal government, Lack of accountability and responsiveness, Lack of fiscal revenue base, Lack of material and organizational means to govern effectively, Undeveloped and underdeveloped tax base, Tax avoidance and evasion.
- OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to evaluate the performance of Egbeidimu area council in Ikotun Egbe Lagos state. But to aid the completion of the study, the researcher intends to achieve the following specific objective;
- To examine the role of Egbeidimu local government area in providing quality service to her residents
- To examine the relationship between performance evaluation of Egbeidimu area council and quality service delivery in Lagos state
- To evaluate the management efficiency of Egbeidimu area council
- To examine the effect of quality service delivery on management efficiency
- RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
The following research hypotheses were formulated by the researcher to aid the completion of the study;
H0: there is no significant relationship between performance evaluation of Egbeidimu area council and quality service delivery in Lagos state
H1: there is a significant relationship between performance evaluation of Egbeidimu area council and quality service delivery in Lagos state
H0: Egbeidimu local government area does not play any role in providing quality service to her residents
H2: Egbeidimu local government area does play a role in providing quality service to her residents
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The study is significant because a lot of the studies on local government were done during the military era, now with the return to civil rule in place and the publication of huge financial resources allocated to the local government system. This has enabled us to have an insight into the activities of the local government system, which is not significantly different from the military era.
- SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The scope of the study covers an assessment of the performance of Egbeidimu; with emphasis on the selected residents of Ikotun Egbe Local government area; but in the cause of the study there were some factors limiting the scope of the study;
- a) AVAILABILITY OF RESEARCH MATERIAL: The research material available to the researcher is insufficient, thereby limiting the study.
- b) TIME: The time frame allocated to the study does not enhance wider coverage as the researcher has to combine other academic activities and examinations with the study.
- c) FINANCE: The finance available for the research work does not allow for wider coverage as resources are very limited as the researcher has other academic bills to cover.
1.7 OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS
Local government council
A local government is a form of public administration which, in a majority of contexts, exists as the lowest tier of administration within a given state.
Service delivery
A service delivery framework (SDF) is a set of principles, standards, policies and constraints to be used to guide the designs, development, deployment, operation and retirement of services delivered by a service provider with a view to offering a consistent service experience to a specific user community in a specific
Amenities
Any feature that provides comfort, convenience, or pleasure: The house has a swimming pool, two fireplaces, and other amenities. the quality of being pleasing or agreeable in situation, prospect, disposition, etc.; pleasantness: the amenity of the Caribbean climate
1.8 ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows. Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (background of the study), statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope of the study etc. Chapter two being the review of the related literature presents the theoretical framework, conceptual framework and other areas concerning the subject matter. Chapter three is a research methodology covers deals on the research design and methods adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding. Chapter five gives summary, conclusion, and recommendations made of the study.
