Contending Issues in the Niger Delta Crisis of Nigeria - Journal of ...

Chapter III: Contending Issues in Governance and Democracy at the Local
Government Level in Nigeria: Some Reflections on the Niger Delta Question
nature and their strive to decree democracy into local governance.
Throughout the military era, state governments routinely withheld
and unilaterally reduced from statutory allocation to local councils
while local officials were summoned at will and given marching orders
by federal and state military authorities. Also, elected councils were
frequently dissolved and in their places, appointed civil servants as
sole administrators. The verdict given by Olowu (1979:164 – 167)
whether we are considering local government under the military or
under civilian leadership still bears relevance even in present day
situations. He argued that ‘local governments have neither become
democratic nor are they sustainable…’. Local governments, as of
today have not faired any better.
The Polycentric Raisons d’etre
The earlier part of this paper has pointed out that the polycentric
governance theorem will form the fulcrum upon which a
recommendation for the sustainability of local government in Nigeria
should be founded. The reason for this is founded on the fact that the
western models of governance copied by the Africa states on
attainment of independence have turned out to be formal instrument
for the centralization of power which in large part has turned out in
fiasco. Ake (1990:12), commented that ‘one of the most important
paradoxes on the African situation is that the state is at once
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