International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) Volume 5 Issue 2, January-February 2021 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470 @ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD38631 | Volume – 5 | Issue – 2 | January-February 2021 Page 1159 Federal-Local Relations and the Status of Governance and Development in Local Government System in Nigeria Kenneth, Nwoko; Asiegbu, Victor Iheanyichukwu Department of Political Science, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Nigeria ABSTRACT Intergovernmental relation is an integral part of modern political systems. This study; federal-local relations and the status of governance and development in the local government system is aimed at ascertaining the relationship that exists between the federal and local government in Nigeria; find out the role of the federal government in the development and governance of the local government and to identify the challenges facing local government development in Nigeria. The study adopted Power Theory. Data was gotten from secondary sources such as textbooks, journals, seminar papers while content analysis was used in analyzing and interpreting the collected data. The study further reviewed related literature. The study amongst others made the following findings; the jurisdictional allocation of tax generation rights to the three tiers of government is not favorable to the Local Government, corruption, poor leadership, and the continued usurpation of local government statutory rights, privileges, and autonomy undermine development at the grass-root after which the following recommendations amongst others were made; there should be a constitutional review or amendment that should address the imbalance in the pattern of intergovernmental relations that exist among the three tiers of government which is presently at the detriment of local government administration and there should also be a cogent need to restructure the current jurisdictional tax generation system which by no means, favours the local government. KEYWORDS: federal, local, federalism and intergovernmental relations How to cite this paper: Kenneth, Nwoko | Asiegbu, Victor Iheanyichukwu "Federal- Local Relations and the Status of Governance and Development in Local Government System in Nigeria" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-2, February 2021, pp.1159-1165, URL: www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38631.pdf Copyright © 2021 by author (s) and International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development Journal. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) INTRODUCTION The structure and composition of societies define their governance and administration. States with remarkable social diversities tend to respect their bases of heterogeneity. The units and strands of such societies cling to their groups and re-enforce their exclusivity thereby seeking respect for their local autonomy. In that order, political elitescapitalise on remarkable primordial cleavages to advance attuned group behaviour that promotes centrifugal and divisive tendencies in the state. Nigeria is a plural state with varied diversities counting for about 250 ethnic nationalities/groupings with the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and the Igbos as the three major generating situations where Musa is Hausa, Femi is Yoruba and Obi is Igbo just as in the other minority groups. Hence, nobody is a Nigerian, and loyalty is primordial and lies with groups. At this, the Nigerian government and administration are structured to foster representation and participation of the various groups and nationalities that make up the country. The evolution of federalism in Nigeria derives from economic, political/constitutional, social, and cultural developments which have influenced the nature and character of intergovernmental relations (Ekpo, 2004). The relationships that exist between and amongst the different units can be seen in different aspect of the government interaction. Fiscal and power configurations exist between and amongst various levels and organs of government thereby giving rise to the adoption of federalism with overt power sharing structure inherent in the exclusive, concurrent and residual legislative lists (Obiora&Chiamogu, 2019). In a federal system of government, powers and functions are shared and divided vertically and horizontally amongst the levels of government and their agencies respectively. They further stated that the three tiers of government: the federal, state and local governments supposedly have defined power allotments with the national government wielding overriding status and functions as the level that has the responsibility of fostering unity in diversity coupled with perhaps the impacts of militocracy in Nigerian politics. Statement of the problem As aptly observed and stated in the description of federalism, the strands for the division, use, and exercise of political powers in federal system of governments occasion a network of relationships between and sometimes amongst the tiers/levels of government and their agencies. In a federal state, the constitution is supreme and all powers derive there from thereby ensuring distinct allocation of those powers in a manner that the vertical and horizontal power relations are clear, actionable but not without conflicts. Phillimore (2013) maintains that intergovernmental relations are an integral and pervasive part of modern political systems, of growing importance as complexities of modern governance increase. He stated that intergovernmental relations have become a notable feature IJTSRD38631