Traditional rulers and local government in Nigeria: a pathway to resolving the challenge

• Main Authors: Daniel Adetoritse Tonwe, Osa Osemwota
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: UTS ePRESS 2013-12-01
• Series: Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance
• Online Access: https://learning-analytics.info/journals/index.php/cjlg/article/view/3728

This paper examines the problem of integrating traditional rulers into the contemporary local government system in Nigeria with a view of resolving the problems arising from the tradition/modernity nexus in the present scheme. Two basic questions guided this work. The first relates to the relevance of indigenous traditional institutions to the challenges of contemporary democratic processes. The second relates to whether traditional modes of thought, behaviour and institutions constitute resources or impediments to the projects of modernisation and development. This paper concludes that the goal of modernisation is to generate rapid increase in social wealth and its driving force is economic development; and where traditional institutions are able to contribute positively to this goal, their input should not be jettisoned.