Effects Of Accountability And Transparency In Financial Management Of Local Government

INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Accountability and transparency has been critical issue in financial
management of local government. It has been hampering the performances of the
council and has been and is still a yet problem to be solved. It could be traced to
have started during the early era of management, when people are in co-operative
efforts to achieve aims which they could not achieve individually.
What is today known as local government in Nigeria has been
metamorphosed from the pre-colonial transitional system of government which
was highly localized according to the peculiarities of the areas. The local council
or native authority presents the basic unit through which any nation administers her
people of the grass-roots level. The theory of local government therefore, is that
there must be an administrative agency through which the central government
governs the people in their respective homes.
All over the world, the structure; the form and the functions of the local
government are determined by the political beliefs of the people who control the
central government. The local unit usually operated under a council which may
consist of persons elected through democratic process by the local inhabitants or
through persons appointed by the government to run the affairs of the local
inhabitants.
Starting from the early 1950s, there have been lots of re-examination of the
institution of local government in Nigeria. There have been a large amount of
military decrees, legislature and judicial activities and finally, reforms from
committee‟s recommendations. Meanwhile, the most remarkable of all these in the
1979 local government reforms made the Nigerian local government states. Local
government is the government at the grassroots that is nearest to the local
populace. The implication of its constitutionally guaranteed governance structure
and its closeness to the people necessitate the need for accountability and
transparency in financial management, and their norms in governance, more
evident at this level.
But contrarily, local governments in Nigeria are often seen as nurturing
grounds for barefaced corruption and near absence of accountability and
transparency in conduct of public service. Local government council however,
instead of discharging their functions as development centers to the people at the
grass root, acquired notoriety for corruption, fiscal indiscipline and overall
irresponsibility. The lack of integrity, accountability and transparency at the level
of governance definitely constitutes a heavy toll on the well-being of the people of
local government (Agbo 2012:20).stealing, embezzlement and misappropriation of
fund has become a major hobby in Nigerian local government.
Circumvention of financial and non financial issue in the Nigerian
local government has been on the increase, geometrically. this issue and many
others brought the need of this research to identify the responsiveness of local
government administration to accountability and transparency in their activities
and the changes if any accountability and transparency in responsibility has
brought to the local government administration since its invention as a mode of
operation in Nigerian government.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The research work is to evaluate and investigate the problems associated
with lack of accountability and transparency in financial management of local
government council. Local government councils has been faced with the problem
of employments racketing, corruption in procurement, internal revenue collection,
award of contracts to the wrong contractors, etc.
Salaries and allowances are paid to non-existing worker as if they are
duly recruited staff of local government. Government goes on to pay this money
without a due process to ascertain this transparent nature of transaction. The
accounting officers in this process go on in this act without adequate accountability
of its responsibility.
Overhead expenditures in the council are incurred without
documentation; documents that are not favorable to the council chairman or
officer-in-charge are destroyed to avoid persecution after services. Tender are not
observed as a process of procurement but insistently friends and family members
are not given the mandate to supply goods and provide services to the council
without tenders.
Contract award has been on man know man, which could either be political
allies or financers. These contractors as a return to investment of financial support
to the council chairman either abandon or execute the contract to the extent to
which they wish, in other to recoup their money invested in election of the council
chairman knowing fully well that the council chairman will not query him.
In this acts, council inhabitants suffer. The federal government of Nigeria
presumes that introduction of accountability and transparency (the progress) in
government activity down to local government could put a check to these illicit
activities in financial transactions of government down to council activities.
This research tends to access the efficacy of accountability and
transparency inventions in the local government financial and non-financial of
government down to council activities as enshrine by due process office.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The following research questions as designed to attend the objective of this work;
1) To what extent does accountability and transparency put check to the
circumvention of due process in the financial and non-financial activities of
the local government council in Nigeria?
2) To what extent has the inhabitants of local government council benefited
from the proceed of accountability and transparency in improvement of
social amenities?
3) To what has the process of accountability and transparency affect the official
and non-official financial behavioral attitudes of council staff in Nigeria?

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The following objectives to this research work stand to be achieved;
1) To ascertain whether accountability and transparency has put to check the
circumvention of due process in financial and non-financial activities of the
local government council in Nigeria.
2) To ascertain whether the inhabitants of local government council have
benefited from the proceed of accountability and transparency through the
improvement of social amenities.
3) To ascertain whether the accountability and transparency have affected the
official and non-official financial behavioral attitudes of council staff in
Nigeria.

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The research work is based on the following hypotheses which are
formulated in tackling the problems in the subject.
HO: Accountability and Transparency has not put to check the circumvention of
due process in financial and non-financial activities of the local government
council in Nigeria.
H1: Accountability and Transparency has put to check the circumvention of due
process in financial and non financial activities of local government councils in
Nigeria.
HO: The inhabitants of local government council has not benefited from the
proceed of accountability and transparency in improvement of social amenities.
H2: The inhabitants of local government council has benefited from the proceed of
accountability and transparency in improvement of social amenities.
H0: The process of accountability and transparency has not affected the official
and non-official financial behavioral attitudes of council attitudes of staff in
Nigeria.
H3: The process of accountability and transparency has affected the official and
non-official financial behavioral attitudes of council staff in Nigeria.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This research work will enable the researcher to establish the possible
factors causing improper accountability and transparency in financial management
in the conduct of public sector in Nigeria.
It is equally expected that, the research work will help to provide solution
which will be applied in improving the stability in the public sector. This study
therefore, will expose the weakness of the local government council system.
Finally, the study will generally be of immense importance to the readers
on various agencies establishing by federal government in fighting corruption in
Nigeria.

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study as the case may be covers the nature of accountability and
transparency in financial management in the local governments with particular
reference to Bende local government area of Abia state. The study takes a holistic
approach in its research to unveil the challenges and problems hindering the proper
accountability and transparency in financial management in local government and
better ways of curbing them.
The study also looked at the basic ways of fund and revenue sources in the
local government and its disbursement.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
In this research work, there are many constraints that affect the output of
this work. One of the limitations is time frame given to this work by the school for
the writing and submission of this project work as well as academic and personal
pressure was faced.
Also, it was not easy collecting information from the council area. Officers I
met did allow me access to some of their documents for security purpose.
Furthermore, most of the personnel in Bende council area are not qualified
accountant and this imposed some problems in data collection. Exact is one of
major problem in school, getting it from the management or people in authority is
not easy financial limitations is another, imposing a big constraint in conducting
the research work effectively; particularly in administrating of the question naira
and lack of adequate material for the study.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Is the third tier of government in Nigeria. It is
the government at the lower level that has power of control our local affairs as well
as the staff by carrying out its functions.
REVENUE: Is fund raised by the government for public purposes and
constituting of taxes, licenses, fines, special assessment.
ALLOCATION: Is specified amount given or allocated to various local
government in the country by the federal and state government to carry out their
day to day.
MANAGEMENT: The achievement of organization and goals through an
effective and efficient utilization of human and material resources.
COUNCIL: This means an area defined to carryout government functions.