OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The broad objective of this study is to
ascertain why the internally generated revenue (I.E.R)
in Onicha Local Government has been far from being satisfactory with a view to
finding lasting solution to it. This study also has some other specific objective
which includes:
1. To understand how the nature and structure
of local government in Nigeria
has affected its internal revenue generation
2. To find out whether land mass (size) and
population should
form the only bases for local government creation.
3. To find out why despite the various sources
of revenue to Onicha Local Government, it has been unable to contribute meaningfully
to national economic development.
SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE STUDY
Revenue that flows into any organization
would always readily serve a measure of the financial wealth of the organization
hence Akpan (2001) observed, “The bottom line for judging the effectiveness of
local authorities is the amount of fund at their disposal.
The study will therefore be of use to
local government administration in Nigeria, as it will open the eyes
of administrators in the area of:
Studying
the local government revenue generation and exploring ways of improving it.
The study is of immense benefit to the
researcher who stands to gain not only in intellectual enrichment but also as
it is carried out to effect the partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of Bachelor’s of Science (B.Sc) degree in public administration. Finally,
scholars and researchers in local government administration will benefit, as
they will be in better position to assess the local government performance.
RESEARCH
HYPOTHESES
This study will be guided by the
following hypotheses
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HO1
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The
nature and structure of local governments in Nigeria has not affected its
internal revenue generation.
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HA1
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The
nature and structure of local government in Nigeria has effected its internal
revenue generation
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HO2
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Landmass
(size) and population should not form the only bases for local government
creation in Nigeria.
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HA2
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Landmass
(size) and population should form the only bases for local government
creation in Nigeria
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HO3
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Onicha
local government has not contributed meaningfully to national economic
development
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HA3
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Onicha
local government has contributed meaningfully to national economic
development.
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SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
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One of the problems hampering adequate
research in this country is lack of readily available statistics and also the non
cooperating attitude of some public servant who fear either indictment or
charge or revealing some secret practices in their offices.
Again owing to time constraints,
transportation cost, and other office engagements, the project will be limited
to Onicha local government only. This research was limited by the above factor
plus other such as the short time, the relative
newness of some development centres in Onicha local government and its
financial constraints
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Every
research will like to learn on a comfortable and suitable theoretical work. In
this research work, dependency theory propounded by Karl Max i.e. Marxist
theory has been chosen as the analytical tool of reference.
The dependency theory states “one economy
is subordinate to the other and in which case, the eternal dynamics of one is
conditioned by the external stimuli. In a non-technical sense of it, dependency
means that the crucial economic decisions are made not by local governments
that are being developed but by outsiders whose interest are carefully
safeguarded. The phenomenon of dependency is not natural. It was a logical
outcome of imperialism and colonialism. Dependency describes the extent to
which an economy is structurally disadvantaged in international division of
labour, that it lacks autonomous capacity to exploit, control and manage its
natural, economic and human resources without falling prey to the dictates of
outside economic and other interests. The local government economy and human
resources has falling prey to the dictate of the external control. The specific
feature of dependency tends more to mean that no meaningful development can
take place, if the development initiative or process of an economy depends on
outside factors or external stimuli either of capital or expertise
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come
of underdevelopment but the incident or historical result of under development.
As dele Johnson put its “dependency is imperialism from the perspective of
under development.
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1.8 DEFINITION
OF TERMS
In
this work, the following meaning will be assigned to the following concept, as
they are used in this research work.
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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This is the third tier of local
government in the federal structure which is constitutionally recognized to
carter for the citizen of a given
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REVENUE
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Money or other receipt, which accrue from
rendering some services or selling some products to other members of the
public.
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REVENUE SOURCES
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The main items from which revenue can be
realized
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REVENUE
GENERATION
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Revenue generation is a process whereby
the state or local governments collect money through imposition of tax,
license, levies and fees for the implementation of its project.
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EVALUATION
STRATEGY
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This means to assess or measure with a
view to obtaining a variable.
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INTENSIVE
STRATEGY
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A strategy which emphasizes the gross
deployment of rescues to fully top already known sources of revenue
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EXTENSIVE
STRATEGY
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Involves looking for alternative or
supplementary sources of revenue to the existing one.
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