Rethinking the Role of the Military in the Modernisation of the Nigerian Local Government System

Abstract

In the developed countries, the military is identified largely for their role in the defence of the country from external aggression and helping out with internal security when the need arises. On the contrary, in a number of developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America, when the military is mentioned, their traditional defence and internal security functions get obscured in their political role. For a thirty-year period (1966 -1999), Nigeria was in this category of countries where the military have combined their constitutional role of defence of the country with that of political governance. While the participation of the military in governance has substantially fizzled out world wide, their impact on the socio-economic and political evolution of the countries concerned have been enormous. This paper critically examines the local government system in Nigeria midwifed by the military in the three decades of their rule; the initial emphasis on efficiency-oriented administration at the local level, the effort which culminated in the 1976 local government reform and the issue of whether the military can serve as modernizers in developing countries.

Constitutional review and the achievement of higher performance in democratized local government system of Delta and Edo State

“…It is responsible for local affairs and designed to meet specific local needs. Tonwe (2012) corroborated this view when he argued that we cannot realized "or either recognized, nor achieved," the five benefits of democracy unless we begin by accepting that all challenges are not central or centre issues" and that all "outcomes" of problems not central in their "case" require the decisions by the populace and the persons, where and when the case is most deeply or "originally felt". As might be excepted, the constitutional developments and reforms carried out in Nigeria have attempted to capture the essence of local government.…”

“…In some of the local government the senior officers who travelled with their families away from their offices on Friday return very late at following Monday or even Tuesday while senior officers who live far only show up once in a month or only some few days in a month and junior workers who observe this takes advantages of only showing up when is time for salary or whenever they are aware of the coming of the chairman of the council. According to Tonwe (2012) on research conducted in Chibok there is high indiscipline and majority of the workers are farmers, handy man and other have personal things they do. From his research, local government councils in most states are meant for sharing of funds allocated by the government to the people at the grass roots level.…”

Boundary Demarcation and Amalgamation of Local Governments in Oromia Surrounding the Federal Capital of Ethiopia

“…The notion of local government can be used interchangeably with the terms of municipality, community and local authority (Birhanu, 2017). It is a multidimensional concept that can be defined from various perspectives, including political, social, economic, geographic, legal and administrative viewpoints (Tonwe, 2011;Birhanu, 2017). From a political perspective, local governments are democratic institutions at grass-root level in which citizens exercise self-government by electing local officials and their representatives to higher levels of government who are accountable to them (government closest to the people).…”

Military and Democratic Rules In Nigeria (1981-2016): Which Has Greater Impact?

“…Also, Kagochi (2008) argued that military leadership in Nigeria was well accepted in the 1960s and 1970s because of high corruption rate amongst the civilians which deprived Nigeria of her supposed standard of living and robust economy. Tonwe & Akpomera (2013) opine that Military rule is a phenomenon found mostly in developing countries in their quest for modernization. All these have made academics, policy makers and even laymen in developing countries like Nigeria ask: Does Military government really lead to economic growth and development?…”