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THE INFLUENCE OF COMMUNITY EDUCATION ON SOCIOECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Local Governments Administration was established by colonial administration essentially to maintain law and order. It was introduced in the guise of the indirect rule system in 1914 by Lord Lugard when amalgamated the northern and southern protectorate which was to meet the requirements of control economy penetration and minimal expenditure. During this period the local Government was the agent of colonial administration and its principle function was mainly the collection of tax and the maintenance of law and order. This was the state of affairs until the reform of 1950s which introduced the English system of Local government in Eastern and Western Nigeria. The reform in Eastern Nigerian led to the creation of three tires of local Government systems of country, district councils and each level was assigned specific function. The complexity of this system necessitated the reduction of the three tires to only one which was the district council. Britain colonial administrations were appointed as district officers to maintain the various district councils. The district officers were in effective control of local government administration in spite of the re-organization of local government in to Eastern Nigeria in 1952 and 1958 and those of the Western and Northern region in 1952, local government remains essentially ineffective.

In the first ten years after Nigeria independence, no serious attempt was made to reform the local government system thus before the Nigeria civil war, which ended in 1970 no fundamentals change was made in the local governments system. It was after the civil war that spirited attempt were made to carryout, some reforms in the local government system in Nigeria. Even then these attempts were ordinate and haphazard. However, what was common to all these reforms was the realization of the need for local government. This was the state of local government in Nigeria before the local government reforms of 1976 which introduced a uniform system of local government in Nigeria was given a new lease of life by the 1976 local government reform. The reform led to fundamental changes in the practice of local government by making local government an effective third tier of government in Nigeria. This was further consolidated in the 1976 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria, which clearly stated its function in schedule. The reforms give the local government a pride of place in the Nigeria political scene.

The current intent in local government administration in Nigeria is he to the realization that a stable political system cannot be established in absence of an effective and efficient local government system. Local government is the government that nearest to the people of a particular community to organize and solve the problems of their immediate level. But local government has had a checked history in Nigeria from it’s played several different roles. It has moved from being an agent of colonial Administration through the status of local Administration to a recognized their tier of government in the country. In spite of the progress that local government has made in Nigeria, it still contends with the personal problems of finance, staffing, corruption and local autonomy. In conclusion, the role of local government as promoter of political advancement, social and economics Development is of paramount important. It’s intimate connection with the local community, who must be mobilized for political participation and social and economic development activities have a lot to do with this. If this crucial role is fully appreciated them to do all that is humanly possible to make local government strong effective and purposeful and abandon a schizophrenic attitude which accepts on one hand that there is a need development because of its great potential for all rural development, but which on the other hand refuses to give it necessary facilities to make it an effective and attractive institution where a few of our finest brain can have challenging jobs worthy of their mettle. There is little doubt that such an attitude or one of indifference can only result in resigned despondency, culminate ultimately in dense of an institution which is responsible for the provision of a multitude of social services.

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