Problems of Internally Generated Revenue for Local Government Administration in Nigeria

Abstract

Local governments are generally referred to as government at grassroots.
They are the closest level of governments to the people, because of their
proximity to the rural people; much is expected from them in terms of social
amenities. But the major problem facing this tier of government is how to
generate revenue internally (without unnecessarily causing harm to members of the public from whom they get the revenue) to be able to carry out their constitutional responsibilities to the people. This study reviews the problems of internally generated revenue for local government Nigeria and quite a great number of them have been identified. Among them is the fact that people at the grass-root believe that it should be the local governments that take care of them and not they fending for the local governments in the name of paying taxes. The local governments suppose to provide for all the social services and facilities. To address this impression among the people at the grassroots there must be adequate enlightenment campaign for the people to understand that taxes and levies they pay are used for the provision of social amenities enjoyed in the rural communities.