State-Local Government Joint Account System And The Financial Autonomy Of Local Government In Nigeria: A Focus On Anaocha Local Government Council Of Anambra State, 1999-2012

ABSTRACT

Local governments in Nigeria are established to bring governance closer to the grassroots and

enhance development. However inadequate finance has undermined the ability of local

governments to achieve these goals. This study, therefore, investigates the link between statelocal

government joint account system and financial autonomy of local government with focus

on Anaocha Local government council between 1999 and 2012. The study adopted the

qualitative descriptive method while data collection was effected through the secondary sources.

The findings show that poor utilization of revenue by council officials accounted for state-local

government joint account system. It further revealed that the state-local government joint

account system have undermined the financial autonomy of Anaocha local government of

Anambra state. It therefore recommends the need to amend Section 162 of the 1999 constitution

with a view to scrapping the state-local government accounts in order to ensure the financial

autonomy of Anaocha local government.

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