Sources of Funding Local Governments in Nigeria and Republic of Guinea

Abstract

Across the Globe, local government system played an important role in the administration of local governance through their responsiveness in the development of local areas in a way and procedure associated with maintaining their locality, to improve the standard of living for the citizenry and to ensure the system of governance is controlled by them (populace). However, it appears that sources of funding are the basic obstacles confronting local government in providing social services to the citizenry within their jurisdiction. The broad objective of this study was to assess the interaction between local governance and social service delivery in Nigeria and Republic of Guinea while the specific objectives were to evaluate the sources of funding social service delivery for local governance in Nigeria and the Republic of Guinea. This study therefore compared and examined the both statutory and non-statutory sources 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 local licenses and fines (49.4%), special transfer (43.3%), and property tax (39.9%) were the prominent statutory sources of revenue in respect of Nigeria, while special transfer (67.8%), monthly allocation (60.5%), and property tax (58.8%) were the prominent statutory sources of revenue in the Republic of Guinea. The non-statutory sources frequently used in Nigeria were commercial ventures (70.3%) and grant from federal government (61.2%), while, grant from central government (56.3%) and commercial ventures (48%) were prominent in Republic of Guinea. The study concluded that sources of funding have significant impact on the provision social service delivery by the local governance in Nigeria and Republic of Guinea.