Business 'Unusual': An Assessment of Local Government Administration and Socio-economic Development at the Grassroots Level in Nigeria

The relationship between politics and the economy of any society is intertwined. Globally, states adopt the system of administration that best serves the people through various institutions. As a federal state, Nigeria recognizes the national, state, and local governments as tiers of administration to deliver goods and services to its over 200 million population. This study assessed the performance and challenges in enhancing socio economic development at the grassroots level. Evidently, the grassroots has not really felt the impact of the government at the local level, which, incidentally, is the closest to the people. The country has frequently used a top-down approach in the implementation of social programs, denying the grassroots the opportunity to contribute to the design, initiation, and implementation of various interventions. Data gathered through qualitative sources was descriptively analyzed. It found that local governments have suffered from poor funding, lack of adequate staff, corruption, failure to adopt new technologies and weak administrative capacities, among others. The study concludes that there is an urgent need for proper synergy among the recognized levels of government for efficient and effective service delivery.