Decentralization, Local Governance and Public Goods Delivery in Nigeria

Political decentralization as a strategy to bring development to the local areas underpins the creation of local government administration in Nigeria. Thus, the principal task is to promote efficient provision and supply of public goods. But the crisis of development at the local government level which is attributable to the failure of extant local government administration system has raised the imperative of paradigmatic rethinking towards local governance. Unlike local government administrative system currently in place with its narrow and restrictive arena, local governance is all-encompassing i.e. involving informal institutions, networks, community organizations, neighbourhood associations etc. With service delivery, flexibility and participation advantage, this paper examines local governance operation in some selected areas-security, water supply; healthcare etc. and thus argues that local governance offers a potential solution to this endemic problem of development failure at the local level. Identifying patron-clientelism, corruption and political unaccountability as militating factors against efficient local government administration, this paper concludes that local government autonomy will guarantee the success of local governance in service delivery. Key words: Local Governance, Local Government, Public Goods, Corruption.