Constitutional Challenges of Creating New Local Government Areas in Nigeria

• Main Author: Jude Okafor
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UTS ePRESS 2012-08-01
• Series: Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance
• Online Access: https://learning-analytics.info/journals/index.php/cjlg/article/view/2692

Local government is purposely established by law to provide grassroots development. In federal states, it is usually created by law of the federating units, and in unitary states it is created by central government. However, since the entrenchment of local government as a third-tier level of government in the 1979/1999 federal constitutions of Nigeria, there have been a lot of difficulties in creating new local governments. This paper examines the dynamics of this structure and the challenges posed to the orderly creation of new local government areas in Nigeria. The paper adopts secondary methods of data collection and analysis. It finds that the conflicting constitutional provisions which vest in the state and federal governments powers to create new local government areas have created many controversies in the polity. It recommends that the creation and statutory finance of local government councils in Nigeria should be expunged from the federal constitution.