Leadership Management and Control of Local Government in Nigeria for Grassroot Development

Local government administration in Nigeria, as the third tier of government, has been bedevilled with so many challengesdespite series of reforms. These challenges were adduced to emanate for lack of proper administrative management and controlas leadership is believed to be the cornerstone of the system’s effective and responsible grass-root development. Thus, this paperwas informed to examine the various types of leadership styles operating in organizations as well as the local governments inthe country. This was done using sources of data such as journal articles, newspapers and textbooks related to local governmentadministration in Nigeria. It is, therefore a descriptive study that relied on secondary data sources. The paper revealed the formsof leadership styles and their challenges inhibiting efficient service delivery to the people at the grassroot level of governancein Nigeria. It concluded that the challenges are institutional and attitudinal in nature which could be addressed if there is thepolitical will by the leaders of the local governments. It recommended a democratized local government leadership system toallow both the leaders and the subordinate to ventilate their administrative opinions in making decisions which affect the ruralpopulace at the grassroot levels.