NJIKO: A Multi-Disciplinary Journal of Humanities, Law, Education and Social Sciences

The third tier of government in Nigeria, most times referred to as Local Government, is basically a government structure that provides administration at the local or grass root level. This presupposes the existence of other levels of governance, and in Nigeria, the federal and state governments readily come to mind as the first and second tiers of government respectively. The introduction of this third tier of government was intended to bring government and the benefits of governance closer to the people. The purpose of this paper is to examine the place, function or performance of the local government as the third tier of government in national development, juxtaposing same with what is obtainable in other climes particularly in the United States of America and Britain. The paper does an overview of its strengths and weaknesses, with the intention to recommend a better and improved way forward aimed at making our local governments more relevant in our polity. In doing this, this paper becomes very relevant to governance and performance tracking in governance.

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