The Evolution of a Democratic Local Government System in Nigeria

As a tier of government that is closet to the people, local government ought to become the foundation for democratic practices. Rather for this level of government to exercise independence in power and authority, an examination of the history of its existence shows that what we have is rather Local Administration. This is despite the fact that virtually all the regimes that have come to power have come up with one form of Administrative Reform or the other, to ensure that autonomy is granted the local governments. For a democratic local government to exist in Nigeria, the central government should become less involved in their creation and in their management. Especially, the consent of the people should determine the evolvement of local institutions rather than for people with different background to be clustered together as one.