Abstract:
The Federal Government of Nigeria pumps billions of naira into the local government system on monthly basis for the development of its rural areas. This portrays the Federal Government laudable intention to raise the living standard of the rural dwellers. Unfortunately, a closer look at the Nigerian local governments reveals that this well cherished and desired objective of the Federal Government is not being achieved by these Local Government Councils. The rural areas remain under developed and are largely characterized by near absence of social, infrastructures. This project is therefore designed to find out the factors behind this ugly development and proffers solutions that would help restore the eroded confidence on the Nigerian local government system. It is broadly divided into five chapters. The introductory chapter examines the background of the problem and further states the research problems, objectives, significance scope and limitation of the study. In chapter two, the related literatures are extensively reviewed. Specifically, the meaning of financial management, objective and areas of concern of financial management, financial management functions are fully dealt with. Also discussed in chapter two are the local government revenue generation, forms of internal control, hypotheses, methods of data collection and analysis. Chapter three brings to light the over view of local government in Nigeria, creation, geographical location, people and population, culture and religion of Izzi Local Government Area. Also presented in chapter three are education and infrastructural services, occupation and economic development, leadership and administration of Izzi Local Government Area. While chapter four presents and analyze the data collected for this study, chapter five summaries the entire text, gives the principal findings of the study and proffers some recommendations.The author concludes by asserting that the adoption of the recommendation offered in this project will not only help to restore the eroded confidence on the Nigerian local government system but would enhance the realization of the desired objective behind local government creation in Nigeria.
