LOCAL GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES WITHIN ITS AREA OF JURISDICTION

LOCAL GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES WITHIN ITS AREA OF JURISDICTION

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There is universal acceptance of local government as a vital instrument for rural and urban developments, irrespective of the ideological differences of societies and levels of development.
Accordingly, Alhaji Abubakar Rim put it apply: Local government is the most important government of our and. It is the nearest and most immediate government for the man. The man in my village does not know who the president is, he does not even care who the governor of Kano is… He cares only about those who are councillors and chairman of his local government. (Constituent Assembly; 1978:994).
One of the major reasons for establishing Local Government is to bring government to the local communities so that the local people can participate fully in the process of governance, in order to provide essential local services and thus speed up the pace of social, economic and political development (Ogunna, 1996). Following this fundamental purpose of local government, the Guidelines on the 1976 Local Government reforms makes community participation imperative on Local Government. The principal objectives of the Reform as provided by the Guidelines were to:
(a) Make appropriate services and development activities responsive to local wishes and initiative by devolving and delegating them to local representative bodies;
(b) Facilitate the exercise of democratic self-government close to the local levels of our society, and to encourage initiative and leadership potential;
(c) Mobilize human and material resources through the involvement of members of the public in their local development;
(d) Provide a two-way, channel of communication between local communities and government (both state and federal).
Consequently, nations have been battling for the establishment of viable local government that will bring both government and development nearer to the people.
Local government has and will continue to be one of the prime mores of development in different parts of the world and their importance and impact on daily activities of citizens cannot be over emphasized.
The terms local government refers to a political authority set up by a nation or state as a subordinate authority for the purposes of dispensing or decentralizing polities’ power. In the English sense, it means local self government.
Local government is a political sub-division of a national government, or in federal system, a sub-division of regional government in fact; local government administration is so intentioned with local government and rural development in Nigeria that any discussion on one out of necessity involves the other. This is because local government in essence, was created solely to bring development to the communities at the grass root.
Local government and rural development in Nigeria is not a new ideology. It is defined as a process by which the efforts of the people themselves are linked with those of governmental authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities, to integrate them into life of the action, and to enable them to contribute fully to the national progress. Also the role of local government in the promotion of development at the local level is clearly recognized as one of the underlying basis of the 1976 local government reforms which emphasized that none of the principal objectives of local government is to mobilize human and material resources through the involvement of members of the public in the promotion of local government biddle, L. U. I. (1965).
Many communities had built school, constructed roads and bridges, and organized higher education, scholarship schemes for their children etc. Local government and rural development in Nigeria as we recognize today is based on and has grown out of experience of the past. What is new is that these principles are now becoming more widely recognize than ever before. The principles of local government and rural development in Nigeria are not new, but it is the emphasis which makes almost a revolutionary. The concept of local government and rural development in Nigeria is based on the faith. In the ability of people to learn how to help them attain an improved standard of living building better communities taking one step at a time Alan Burns (sir). (1972).

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT EFFORTS TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL COMMUNITIES WITHIN ITS AREA OF JURISDICTION