The Rising Trends of Corruption in Nigeria’s Local Government: Implication for Socio-Political Dev
Authors:
AYOMOLA Oluranti
Publication Type: Journal article
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Abstract
Local government is the third tier of government in Nigeria with the responsibilities of bringing governance closer to the door step of local inhabitants and facilitating socio-economic and political development. In spite of the various reforms by successive administrations to promote this noble gesture, these goals have not been attained. The reasons behind this setback are many. At the heart of these challenges are the corrupt practices among politicians and public servants. Documentary data were obtained from books, reputable journals, government publications, internet sources and personal observations. This paper observed that corruption is on the increase at the councils and this were manifested through irregular elections by the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and appointment of caretaker/transition committees by the state governors, non-remittance of the contributive pension scheme, nonpayment of public servant salaries and allowances and abuse of the state joint local government account by the state government. The paper, therefore, concludes that for the local government to attain its constitutional goals and good governance, SIECs should be scrapped and elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission in every three years, regular and adequate remittance of the contributive pension scheme to the beneficiaries to avoid the temptation of involvement in corrupt practices when in active service, regular payment of salaries and allowances and direct allocation of statutory revenue to the local government.