Nigerian Local Government System and Effective Manpower Planning: A Reappraisal

Abstract

Local governments in Nigeria perform below substandard level. In most local government areas in Nigeria there is general poverty, unhealthy sanitary conditions, poor health care, infant mortality and insecurity. Local governments have abandoned their primary role of being the vehicle for effective rural development in Nigeria. Three main resources are imperative in the survival of every organisation – financial, material and human resources. The findings of this study reveal that local governments in Nigeria have fairly adequate financial and material resources to perform optimally and effectively. However, they lack the human resources to manage the other available resources for effective performance. Consequently, a reappraisal of the Nigerian local government system was undertaken to highlight the importance of effective manpower planning as a panacea to the problems of different magnitudes that have whittled down the performances of this level of government in Nigeria in the recent times.