Abstract

Local governments in Nigeria are not optimally performing as expected partly due to insufficient fund, corruption and lack of autonomy. The focus of this paper is to examine environmental factors affecting the administration of Ede North and Ede South local governments Osun State, Nigeria. The paper was descriptive, combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The two local governments were purposively chosen as no study in that respect had been conducted, while copies of questionnaire were distributed among one hundred respondents selected through random sampling techniques covering officers on GL 07 and above. Six personalities were interviewed including the Timi Agbale of Ede and religious leaders. The data obtained were organized as table with frequency counts while the analysis was descriptive. The paper found the influence of colonialism, Godfatherism, corruption, excessive societal pressure, poor financing and undue interference from state government as major environmental factors while the effect of traditional institution, ethnicity and religion were not pronounced. The paper concluded that the lack of political will by the political class to make Local government work and too much expectations from privileged ones for personal gains could be addresses if Section 8 (6) of 1999 Constitution is amended to minimize state government domineering influence. In addition, political education, inclusive government and the transfer of the functions of State Electoral Commission through constitutional process to Independence National Electoral Commission to guarantee the emergence of enduring democracy at the local level.