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CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY:
Corruption is a world-wide phenomenon
which has been in societies throughout history. It has caused political and
economic instability in societies and it has also led to social conflict and
violence in the local government sector and also to the society at large.
Corruption has been identified as one of the major problems confronting
effective local government administration in Nigeria. According to Harsh
(1993), corruption is a practical problem involving the outright theft,
embezzlement of funds or other appropriation of state property, nepotism and
granting of favors to personal acquaintance. Furthermore, he said corruption
involves the behavior which deviates from moral and constitutional
requirements. Also, Odey (2002), contextualized corruption in Nigeria as the
air which every living person breathes in naturally, he said corruption in
Nigeria has been so naturalized that many of us becomes corrupt without making
any effort and often without knowing it. Despite the availability and
expenditure in the extremely large amounts of foreign exchange derived mainly
from Nigeria’s oil and gas resources, economic growth has been weak and the
incidence of poverty has increased. It is estimated that Nigeria received over
$22 billion from oil export between 1981 and 1999. Yet the number of Nigerians
living in abject poverty, that is, on less than $1 a day doubled between 1970
and 2000 and the proportion of people living in poverty rose from 36% in 1970
to 70% in 2000. With the above quotation, it is seen that corruption within
Nigeria is the main cause of this problem. Corruption is the greatest bane of
local government administration in Nigeria. At the grass-root level, corruption
has been accommodated, entertained and celebrated within the system. In the
local government setting, corruption is labeled and referred to as “EGUNJE”, (
a slogan which means “illegal offer” in Nigeria). Unfortunately, Democracy,
which is assumed to be the antidote to corruption, is not well practiced at the
grass-root level. Kolawole (2006) laments this situation when he opines that
“in spite of the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other
Related Offence Commission (ICPC), corruption still strives in our society”. In
his analysis, Kolawole was of the view that lack of funds was no more a
constraint on local government performance, but a mismanagement and
misappropriation of funds accruable to it.
The term local government
administration in Nigeria has attracted serious attention both nationally and
internationally since the great local government reform of 1976, thus the
initiator of the 1976 Local Government Reforms as contained in the guidelines
(1976), emphasized the basic features of local government as “government at the
local level exercised through representative council established by law to
exercise specific powers within defined areas”. These powers would give
substantial control over local affairs as well as the staff and institutional
and financial powers to initiate and direct the provision of services and to
determine and implement projects so to complement the activities of the state
and the federal government in their areas, and ensure through active
participation of the people and their traditional institutions that local
initiatives and response to local needs are maximized. Local government is the
closest tier of government to the people of Nigeria, yet the resident
population in it is denied the benefits of its existence. Awa (1981) defines
local government as “a political authority set up by a nation or a state as a
subordinate authority for the purpose of dispersing or decentralizing political
power”. Equally, the United Nations office for public administration (1976)
sees local government or local government administration as a political
sub-division of a nation or (in a federal system) state, which is constituted
by law and has substantial control of local affairs, including the power to
impose taxes or to exert labour for prescribed purposes. The governing body of
such an entity is elected or otherwise locally selected. The constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 1999 as amended 2011), defined local
government as government at the local level exercise through representative
council established by law to exercise specific powers within defined areas.
These powers should give the local government council substantial over local
affairs as well as the staff and institutional and financial powers to initiate
and direct the provision of services and to determine and implement projects so
as to complement the activities of the state and federal government in the
areas to ensure through devolution of functions to their councils and through
the active participation of the people and traditional institutions that local
initiative and response to local needs and conditions are maximized.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
AREA.
The study area of this research work
is based on Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. Bayelsa state was
created on October 1st, 1996 out of the old Rivers state by the then regime of
General SanniAbacha. The name Bayelsa, is an acronym of the first three (3)
letters of the major local government areas known as Brass-BALGA, Yenagoa-YELGA
and Sagbama-SALGA, these three acronyms formed BAYELSA. The then Brass LGA is
what makes up the present Nembe, Brass and Ogbia local government areas; the
then Yenagoa LGA consists of the present Yenagoa, Kolokuma/Opokuma and Southern
Ijaw local government areas and the then Sagbama LGA is what makes up the
present Sagbama and Ekeremor local government areas. Bayelsa has a population
of around 2million people. Its capital is at Yenagoa, the traditional center of
the Ijaw people, Nigeria’s fourth largest ethnic group after Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo;
while Ijaw dialects are spoken by most Bayelsan’ people. English is the state’s
official language. The state covers an area of about 21’000 square km, and
about three-quarters of its total area lies under water. Bayelsa state is
located in the southern part of Nigeria. It shares boundaries with Rivers state
on the West, on the East and South by the Atlantic Ocean and on the North by
Delta state. The local population engages in mostly fishing and farming on a
subsistence and commercial level. Bayelsa state has one of the largest crude
oil and natural gas deposits in Nigeria and a thriving petroleum sector. The
first oil found in commercial quantities in Nigeria was found in 1956, in an
area that is currently part of Bayelsa state. The state consists of eight local
government areas which are Kolokuma/Opokuma, Sagbama, Yenagoa, Nembe, Brass,
Ogbia, Epie/Atissa and Ekeremor local government areas.
Yenagoa is a local government area in
Bayelsa state, Nigeria. It has an area of 706km square and a population of
353,344 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 561. Yenagoa is the
traditional home of the Ijaw people. The Ijaw forms the majority of Bayelsa
state. English language is the official language, but Epie/Atissa language, one
of the Ijaw languages, is the major local language spoken in yenagoa. Since
attaining the status of state capital in 1996, construction and other
activities have accelerated appreciably.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:
The state of corruption in Nigeria has
been categorized as endemic. Corruption has not only been classified as a major
problem in local government administration but it has also been identified as a
major obstacle to the national growth and development of the economy. Research
has shown that corrupt practices have been perpetrated not only in local
government administration but also in public and private places since the
pre-colonial era to the colonial period and through independence till date.
Absence of democracy and good governance gives way to corruption; also poverty
is an inducement to corruption at the grass root level. Many of the local
government representatives are jobless; they go into politics to make money
rather than to serve the purpose to which they were elected. Apart from poverty
itself, the fear of poverty is another factor, people are afraid of going back
to poverty after the completion of their tenure or after retirement, this then
results to stealing of public funds.
Corruption also flourishes under weak
leadership and weak government. When political or administrative leader cannot
effectively control people under him, corruption becomes imminent, due to the
fact that most of the funds meant for public project will be diverted to their
private purse as a result of lapse in the system. Also, low wages and salaries
as well as greed also brings about corruption, this is as a result of lack of
effective accountability in the system. Local government officials are not held
responsible for their actions as well as their inactions and also there is no strict
adherence to the rules guiding the local government system. The local
government system in the country is characterized by ethical perversion and
moral depravity. The masses are not carried along in the execution and
implementation of projects, projects are done on papers without recourse to
inspection and probity. There are different problems facing local government
administration in Nigeria, but the main problem facing local government
administration in Nigeria is the issue of corruption. As a matter of fact, mere
mention of local government includes corruption. The popular myth propagated by
the local government officials is that the councils are always short of funds.
No doubt, the heavy funding that runs into billions of naira as seen from the
tables of budgeting may not be enough because of the high level of corruption
in the councils. It has also been observed that most local government councils
do not accord adequate regard to the budget process. The outcome of this
situation is the indiscriminate and unplanned execution of projects. The state
government which would have served as a check is not free from this problem
either. These contracts are inflated and worst still, the projects are not
executed and there by defeating the essence of these budgets.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:
Every research work contains diverse
objectives to be achieved at the end of the research. Thus, the objective of
this research work is to assess corruption and local government administration
in Nigeria specifically in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa state. The
specific objectives of this study are:
1. To ascertain that accountability
and transparency are encouraged and promoted in the local government system.
2. To identify mechanisms to put in
place for an effective and efficient administration in the local government
system.
3. To analyze ways in which the
conditions of the people living in the grass roots can be improved.
4. To describe the modalities of
bringing meaningful socio-political and economic development of the grass root.
5. To identify the challenges facing
project monitoring and evaluation in Nigerian local government systems.
TOPIC: CORRUPTION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION OF NIGERIA
Format: MS Word
Chapters: 1 - 5
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Delivery: Email
Number of Pages: 60
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