Local Government Financial Autonomy and Economic Development in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State

Abstract

This research focused on “Financial Autonomy and Economic Development in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.. The study adopted “System Theory" propounded by Almond. Primary and secondary sources of data were used to collect data for the study; descriptive survey design was adopted by the researcher. Furthermore, simple random sampling technique was adopted. The population of this study is 280,973 which constituted the population of Onicha L.G.A of Ebonyi State; the sample size of 399 was used. The researcher made use of simple percentage statistical formula for its data analysis and chi-square for test of hypotheses. Findings revealed that, the level of financial autonomy granted to Onicha local government in Nigeria has significant affect their service delivery performance, lack of autonomy has significant impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of Onicha local government to deliver essential service. Based on the findings the following recommendations were made higher government officials must lessen bureaucratic control and provide local governments like Onicha more authority over budgetary decisions in order to strengthen their financial independence, the administrative and financial management mechanisms of Onicha Local Government should be strengthened in order to optimize the advantages of financial autonomy.