Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-30T22:07:54.397Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Municipal Governments and City Planning and Management in Nigeria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Donatus C. I. Okpala*
Affiliation:
Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of Ibadan

Extract

With the increasingly rapid urban growth in Nigeria in recent decades, and with its consequent multiplication and complication of the urban problems of traffic and transport, housing, health, and sanitation, the need for a more purposeful planning and management of cities has come to attract increased public policy attention. The institutional and organizational setting for city planning and management, particularly the role of municipal governments in these activities, still remain colonial and therefore ill-suited to the demands of present urban developments. City planning and management responsibilities are so fragmented among so many institutions and organizations that the municipal local governments have had very little authority over what happens in the city.

The overlapping responsibilities of the various institutions make for conflicts and the net result is general inefficiency in the planning and management of many cities. The recent (1976) Local Government Reforms which aimed at decentralizing some functions from the state and federal governments to local governments do not seem to have altered the weak position of municipal governments in city planning and city management matters.

The aim of this paper is to put the origin of the weak position of municipal governments in city planning and management into political and historical perspective. It also seeks to argue that until city planning and management responsibilities are centralized on strong, autonomous municipal governments, headed by popularly elected urban chief executives, the present chaos in Nigerian cities is likely to continue.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Sardauna, Ahmadu et al (1953) Report of the Committee on the Future Administration of Urban Areas of Northern Nigeria 1953. Zaria: Gaskiya Corporation.Google Scholar
Colby, C.E.T. (1946) Report of the Lagos Town Planning Commission. Lagos: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Colonial Office, London. (1954) Housing in British African Territories. London HMSO.Google Scholar
Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1976) Guidelines for Local Government Reform.Google Scholar
Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1959) Report by Sir John Imrie C.B.E. into the relationship between the federal government and the Lagos Town Council 1959. Lagos: Federal Government Printer.Google Scholar
Federal Republic of Nigeria. (1968) Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the affairs of the Lagos Executive Development Board for the period 1st October 1960 to 31st December 1965. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information, Printing Division.Google Scholar
Floyer, R. K. et al (1955) Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the working of the Port Harcourt Town Council. Enugu: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Hoskyns-Abrahall, T. (1946) Report with recommendations on the planning and development of Greater Lagos 1946. Lagos: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Johnson, S. E. (1948) “Report of Select Committee to review existing Local Government in Eastern Region to formulate general principles for reform.”Google Scholar
Lagos Executive Development Board (LEDB). (1964) “Annual Reports and Accounts 1963/64.”Google Scholar
LEDB Proceedings. (1966) Proceedings of the Lagos Executive Development Board: Tribunal of Inquiry 1966 Daily Verbatim Reports 1966. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Information.Google Scholar
Ministry of Lands and Housing, Ibadan. (1970) You and Your Town Planning Authority 1970. Ibadan: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Nicholson, E.W.J. (1956) Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the administration of Ibadan District—1956.Google Scholar
Obialo, D. C. (1977) “Government and Urban Development.” (Paper presented at the Seminar on Urban Planning and Development in Nigeria, Economic Development Institute Enugu 1977).Google Scholar
Olatunji, O. (1977) “Can Local Government Survive?” (Paper presented at the National Conference on the Draft Constitution, Ibadan 1977).Google Scholar
Perry, J. H. (1953) Report of the financial and administrative arrangements in capitals of Federal Countries 1953. Lagos: Government Press.Google Scholar
Storey, Bernard. (1952) Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the administration of the Lagos Town Council 1952. Zaria.: Gaskiya Corporation.Google Scholar