Local Government Fiscal Autonomy and Rural Development; Empirical Evidences from Yewa South and IFO Local Governments of Ogun State

Abstract

The study focuses on the link between local government fiscal autonomy and rural
development, the effect of local government fiscal autonomy on rural development and to investigate
the extent at which poor capital funding has affected the rate of rural development; empirical
evidences from Yewa South and IFO local government areas of Ogun State. The research utilized
both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected through questionnaire from a
sample of 130 staff out of the total population of the staff of the 2 local governments. The respondents
were selected using stratified random sampling technique in which the total number of staff in each
local government was put into consideration before final selection using simple random sampling.
The paper employed descriptive statistics using ordinary least square in SPSS to analyze the
hypotheses in order to achieve the objectives of the study. The study finds out that there is a negative
effect of poor capital funding on the lives of the local people with the P-values <5% significant level.
Hence, the study concludes that local governments need financial autonomy to perform their civic
responsibilities of improving the standard of living and rural development of the people at the
grassroots. Therefore, the study recommended that federal and state government should stop undue
interference in the finances of local government councils so that yearly statutory allocations to them
can be used for developmental projects.