Assessment of Local Government Administration on Socio-Economic Development in Otukpo Local Government Area, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the establishment of local governments as grassroots institutions for promoting economic and social development, many local councils continue to experience challenges such as poor implementation of development programmes, corruption, inadequate funding, and weak institutional capacity, all of which hinder effective development outcomes. Consequently, this study examined local government administration and socio-economic development in Otukpo Local Government Area. The population comprised 150 staff members of the local government council, from which 109 respondents were randomly selected. The study was guided by two research questions and two corresponding hypotheses tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A survey research design was adopted, and data were collected using a structured questionnaire. The instrument was face-validated and yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.68. Descriptive statistics, including frequency counts and percentages, were used to answer the research questions, while the Pearson Product–Moment Correlation was employed to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that there is a significant relationship between local government administration and socio-economic development in Otukpo Local Government Area. The study also found a significant relationship between the identified solutions and the improvement of local government administration and socio-economic development in the study area. The study recommends strengthening institutional capacity and enhancing the effective implementation of development programmes to promote sustainable socio-economic development in Otukpo Local Government Area.