Ensuring adequate provision of municipal infrastructure, utilities and services constitutes a major rationale for the local government administration in Nigeria. This paper examined the road infrastructure delivery performance (provision, maintenance and rehabilitation) of the local administration in the two local government areas of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Data were obtained with the aid of questionnaire and key-informant interview. Using multistage sampling, 600 residents were surveyed. The key-informant interviews were conducted on three local government senior administrative officers. Descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis were employed in the analysis. The study found that the local administrations in the city lacked autonomy, as they practically advance the cause of the state government. Thus, they could neither initiate nor execute any infrastructure project independently. It was also found that residents in the city were often required to contribute financially towards the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure in their neighbourhoods. The study concluded that the performance of the local administration in the city was poor in terms of its statutory duty of municipal road infrastructure delivery. Consequently, the paper recommends the enhancement of the overall performance of local administration in Osun State through the granting of full political and financial autonomy to the local government.
Media reports on train mishaps and havocs emanating from rooftop riding abound; however, there has been very limited effort on the empirical investigation of why daredevils embark on this utter suicide mission. Besides, studies that rigorously examined profiles of the perpetrators of the dastardly act are hard to come by in the literature of railway transport. Against this background, this study examined the menace of train rooftop riding in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria, with a view to evolving a policy response that could curtail the life-threatening nuisance. Towards achieving this aim, specific objectives were formulated. These were to examine the socioeconomic characteristics of train rooftop riders in Lagos Metropolis, determine the motivations for train rooftop riding in the study area, assess the efforts made by the authorities to discourage train rooftop riding in the study area, and proffer policy recommendations towards engendering a safe rail transport milieu. Data were obtained through participant observation, interview and questionnaire administration. The respondents comprised 64 conveniently sampled rooftop riders, 183 law-abiding passengers of three Diesel Multiple Units and three Mass Transit Trains selected using multistage sampling, and the 113 staff members of the Nigerian Railway Corporation consisting of 20 engineers, 79 conductors and 14 ticket vendors. The study found that train rooftop riding had defied all the measures taken against it in the study area. It characterized most trips but was prevalent at the morning and evening peak periods (35.2% and 59.2%, respectively). All the rooftop riders were middle-aged men. None of them admitted to ever falling off before; however, 28 (43.8%) admitted to being scared of falling off, while 40 (62.5%) boasted they could not possibly fall off. Two categories of motivations for rooftop riding were found: 'perceived' and 'real'. Smoking (47.0%), substance abuse (23.0%) and criminal tendencies (19.7%) were among the perceived motivations, while space inadequacy (37.5%), queue avoidance (50.0%) and adventure (34.4%) were among the real motivations. Given an overall improvement in the railway services, 28 (43.8%) would stop, 18 (28.1%) would not stop, and 18 (28.1%) were unsure they would stop rooftop riding. The study concluded that the menace of train rooftop riding was undesirable. Consequently, practical policy recommendations were proffered towards curbing the menace.
This study examines the duplication in urban planning functions in Osun State of Nigeria. Data for the study were sourced from questionnaire administered on the directors of all the 35 planning agencies in the state. Data collected include respondents' characteristics and the operation of the planning agencies and these were analysed using frequency distribution. The study revealed that the agencies experienced conflict of interest and the reason for that was mostly jurisdictional. Also, the agencies seldom related with one another. The study concluded that the structure of urban administration in the state causes duplication of urban planning functions and recommends, among others, legislative changes in urban administration of the state and Nigeria.
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