Examination of the level of governance in Gombe local government, Nigeria
1Usman Bappi, 2Mulegi Tom and 3Eleanor Kirahora Barongo
1Department of Public Administration, Gombe State University, Nigeria.
2Department of Political Administrative Studies, Kampala International University, Uganda.
3Department of Development, Peace and Conflict Studies, Kampala International University, Uganda.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the level of governance in Gombe local government, Nigeria. The study was guided by the following research objectives: to determine the Demographic profile of the respondents and to examine the level of governance in Gombe local government. This study adopted mixed approaches, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches and using descriptive survey for data collection. Data was collected using researcher‘s devised questionnaires. Frequency and percentage distributions were used to analyze respondents‘profile. Means was used for the level of Governance in Gombe local government in Nigeria. Findings revealed that the level of governance in Gombe local government in Nigeria had an average mean of 2.20 and was interpreted as fair. The researcher concluded that role of government in community development is to simply work closely with other players in the community development system and working closely can improve speed and smoothness in administrative and regulatory tasks, probably at limited cost.
Keywords: Examination, level, governance, Gombe, local government and Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
The concept Governance was used for the first time in a metaphorical sense by Plato, It then passed on to Latin and then on to many languages [1]. It relates to decisions that define expectations, grant power, or verify performance. It consists of either a separate process or part of management or leadership processes [2]. These processes and systems are typically administered by a government. The World Bank [3] defines governance as: the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. The Worldwide Governance Indicators project of the World Bank defines governance as: The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised. This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the respect of citizens and the state of the institutions that govern economic and social interactions among them. An alternate definition sees governance as: the use of institutions, structures of authority and even collaboration to allocate resources and coordinate or control activity in society or the economy [4]. According to worldwide governance indicators (WGI) Nigeria got 55points out of the 100points in 2000 using freedom house standardized scale while in 2002 Kaufmann government: effectiveness where the maximum point is two (2) and minimum is negative two (-2) Nigeria was in negative one (-1). The six areas where WGI rank on Nigeria 1996-2011 which are Voice and accountability (Citizen participation, independent media) Political instability and violence (Threat of state coup) Government effectiveness (Quality of civil service) Regulatory burden (Market-unfriendly policies) Rule of law (Perceptions of crime, effective judiciary, enforceable contracts) Corruption (Perceptions of corruption) none of these rank up to 40%. This shows that the level of governance in the country is declining. (http://info.worldbank.org/governance/). The idea of community development first began to feature strongly in social and public policy in Britain in the late 1960s. In all of these early initiatives the idea of community development was linked to assumptions concerning system dysfunction‖, the problem of community development was either seen in terms of the dysfunctional outcome of social and economic progress or in terms of dysfunctional families and social networks [5-6]. While this idea that community development was something the poor and underprivileged needed has remained resilient, with public and social policy, the ensuing decade brought new concepts of community development into public policy, both in Britain and internationally [7].
Early history of community development in Africa and Asia was influenced by colonial policies and practices together with the efforts of missionaries. Education as the main community development intervention and conversion to Christianity were intertwined [8]. Mass education was seen as the beginning of the evolution and the progressive institutionalization of community development as an arm of government policy. These early efforts of western education (included health, home life training, industry, agriculture and recreation) are part of community development [9-10]. In 1928 at a meeting in Jerusalem for the International Missionary Council, a statement was made which contained what appears to be the first official usage of the term-community development [11-13]. Prior to this the community development process was given a number of different labels such as community consciousness, advancement of the community as a whole, rural betterment and rural reconstruction [14-16]. With the independence of India, Pakistan, Ceylon and Burma in the late 1940s and Nigeria in 1960, the focus fell on Africa and community development as it was very clear that community development would be a definite feature of the British [9-10].
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary of findings
This study was guided by two objectives which comprised of (I.) to determine the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of gender, age, education and profession (II.) to examine the level of governance in Gombe local government, Nigeria. The first objective of the study was to determine the profile of the respondents in terms of gender, age, education and profession. The findings revealed that the male respondents (63.3%) are much more than the female respondents which comprised only (36.7%) and also the findings indicated that the study does not discriminate as there is a diverse in the age and educational background of the respondents. The second objective was the level of governance in Gombe local Government, Nigeria. Based on the analysis of chapter four the findings exposed that most of the respondents agreed, that Governance affect community development. While using the six indicators of Good Governance, i.e. (i) Voice and Accountability, (ii) Political Stability and Absence of Violence, (iii) Government Effectiveness, (IV.) Regulatory Quality, (v) Rule of Law, and (vi) Control of Corruption, the respondents respond to the level of governance is fair.
CONCLUSION
From the Study Findings, the conclusion is generated based on the purposes of the study as follows: Findings indicated that the level of Governance is fair as we gathered from the respondents using the six indicators of good governance which comprised of (i) Voice and Accountability, (ii) Political Stability and Absence of Violence, (iii) Government Effectiveness, (IV.) Regulatory Quality, (v) Rule of Law and (vi) Control of Corruption.
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Usman Bappi, Mulegi Tom and Eleanor Kirahora Barongo (2023). Examination of the level of governance in Gombe local government, Nigeria. IDOSR JOURNAL OF BANKING, ECONOMICS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES 8(1): 60-74. https://doi.org/10.59298/JBESS/2023/10.6.1000