Local government in Nigeria: A study of resource allocation in Imo State.

Abstract

This study concentrates on primary education and community projects as analytical tools. It hypothesizes that there is an hierarchy of allocation that mirrors core-periphery relations of regions, and that there is a rural-urban dichotomy in the endowment of specific Local Government Areas (LGAs). The combined evidence of the distribution of teachers and of pupils by sex, and of budgeted amounts for community projects, suggests a three-level division of LGAs. There are low-endowment rural LGAs, having high male-to-female teacher ratios and, to some degree, more male than female pupils. There are high-endowment rural LGAs, with rough parity of teacher and pupil ratios, and varied--but high--levels of project budget. Finally, there are urban LGAs, with high female-to-male teacher ratios, a tendency for female pupils to outnumber male, and very low community project budgets. However, these divisions are based on crude statistics, rank-ordered, and take no account of effects of the larger region (i.e. Eastern Nigeria). The preliminary interpretation, which does support a rural-urban endowment dichotomy, is of limited value because statistics essential to a definitive conclusion are unavailable. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)