LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY AND THE PERFORMANCE OF THE LOCAL COUNCILS IN EBONYI STATE

Abstract

The relevance of the local councils as the government at the grassroots is measured by the quality and quantity of services rendered to the people at the local government area. For the local government council to perform maximally, it must be involved in the provision of basic amenities, such as the construction and maintenance of local roads, creation of employment opportunities for the citizens at the local government area as well as the payment of their salaries. Yet, the local councils have been found wanting with reference to the performance of these duties, hence the study of local government autonomy and the performance of the local council in Ebonyi State as the broad objective. The study is anchored on the general system theory. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study is 3,586 from which a sample size of 360 was drawn. It relied on primary and secondary data. The data collected were analyzed in tables, percentages and weighted mean and T test was used to test the hypotheses. Findings of the study show that there is a significant relationship between operating in autonomy and quality service delivery by local governments in Ebonyi state, that democratically elected chairmen is one of the factors that will enhance the performance of the local councils in the period of autonomy in Ebonyi State. The study therefore recommends among others that  Although the Supreme Court has granted local government autonomy, yet, the pronouncement of the Supreme Court abrogated the section 162 (6) of the 1999 constitution which provided for the establishment of state/ local government joint account. Owing to this, the researcher recommend for a new constitution to be drafted since the effort to amend this section of the 1999 constitution has not been fruitful in order to have constitutionally acceptable local government autonomy.