Political and Administrative Structures of Governance in Local Government System in Africa: Nigeria and Republic of Guinea

Abstract

Across the Globe, both administrative and political structures played some important roles in the administration of local government through their responsiveness in the development of local areas in order to empowering the populace with the view to make citizenry feel the significant of good governance at the grassroots level, democratization, the enlistment of non-governmental organizations and related agencies not only increases grassroots participation with government but guarantees improved standard of living. However, it appears that both administrative and political structures are the basic obstacles confronting local government in providing social services to the citizenry within their jurisdiction. This study therefore compared administrative and political structures of local governance in the delivery of developmental social service in Nigeria and Republic of Guinea. Data were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Data gathered were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis. The study revealed that administrative structure of governance exists in terms of personnel administration of the study areas. Local Governments in Nigeria has 64.7% while Republic of Guinea has 62.7%. And, the difference in democratic selection of local governance in the two countries is captured mean values (x) of 2.61 and 2.16 for Republic of Guinea and Nigeria respectively. The study concluded that administrative and political structures of local government has significant impact on transparency and accountability of local governance in Nigeria and Republic of Guinea.