Protecting Local Governments from Arbitrary State and Federal Interference: What Prospects for the 1990s?

Abstract

The number of local governments in Nigeria has beenfixed at 453 by the 1989 Constitution. The key purpose of this provision is to prevent state governmentsfrom creating local governments and altering local-government boundariesforpoliticalpurposes. The provision is part ofa larger program of localgovernment reform undertaken by thefederal military government to ensure the integrity and autonomy ofdemocratically elected local governments under the Third Republic. States are limited in their ability to intervene in local government affairs, and the federal government has certain direct powers and responsibilities for local governments. Whether these reforms will achieve their intended objectives, however, is arguable.