Constraints on Effective Development Policy Making in Nigeria Local Governments; A Study of Enugu East Local Government Area, Enugu State

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the Constraints of Effective Development Policy-Making in Nigeria Local Governments (A Study of Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State).The pace at which development in the local government can be realized is hinged essentially on the ability of the government to formulate appropriate and effective development policies. Determining the reasons why development policies are hardly achieved in the local government formed the main objective of the study. The literature review was anchored on the Hybrid theory. In carrying out this study, the descriptive research design was adopted. The population of the study was 562 (five hundred and sixty two) as at April, 2018 out of which the sample size of 233(two hundred and thirty three) was derived using the Yamane’s formula. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted in determining the number of questionnaire administered to respondents. Both the primary and secondary sources of data were used for data collection. Data were gathered for the study with a well structured 5 point Likert scale questionnaire. The tool used for data analysis was simple percentage. The basic finding is that there exists, indeed, some factors that constitute serious obstacles to effective development policy making in Nigeria local governments, one of which is the varying levels of interference from politicians and state government. The study concluded that interference from the state government influences effective development-policy making in the local government. The study recommended that the local government should be allowed to function more independently with little or no interference to ensure effective development policy-making.