Leadership Management and Control of Local Government in Nigeria for Grassroot Development

Abstract

Local government administration in Nigeria, as the third tier of government, has been bedevilled with so many challenges despite series of reforms. These challenges were adduced to emanate for lack of proper administrative management and control as leadership is believed to be the cornerstone of the system’s effective and responsible grass-root development. Thus, this paper was informed to examine the various types of leadership styles operating in organizations as well as the local governments in the country. This was done using sources of data such as journal articles, newspapers and textbooks related to local government administration in Nigeria. It is, therefore a descriptive study that relied on secondary data sources. The paper revealed the forms of leadership styles and their challenges inhibiting efficient service delivery to the people at the grassroot level of governance in Nigeria. It concluded that the challenges are institutional and attitudinal in nature which could be addressed if there is the political will by the leaders of the local governments. It recommended a democratized local government leadership system to allow both the leaders and the subordinate to ventilate their administrative opinions in making decisions which affect the rural populace at the grassroot levels.