Power Relations Between State And Local Governments As Predictor For Poor Healthcare Delivery System In Kwara State

The activities of government are embedded in three tiers of government recognized by the Nigerian constitution namely; Federal, State and Local governments. The local government areas (LGAs) being the third tier of government and being the closest to the people is expected to mobilize the locals towards harnessing the natural resources within their domain and putting in place the necessary infrastructures. Overtime, the response to slow pace of development has been attributed to the dominance of the state government over LGAs in terms of revenue generation and allocation of developmental projects. Thus, it is safe to say that involvement of the local communities in rural planning is yet to be fully witnessed. This has continued to generate the debate on effect of the intergovernmental relations between the state and local governments in Nigeria. It is against this background that this paper seeks to understand the power relations between Kwara State government and selected LGAs in respect to healthcare delivery system available in the rural areas of the state.The study adopted survey research design as such, questionnaire was used to elicit information from the respondents. Three LGAs were strategically selected from each of the senatorial district of the state. The study sampled a total of 180 employees of the LGAs using simple random sampling technique. From the findings, it was discovered that the power relations between Kwara State and the LGAs is not symbiotic but parasitic which has rendered LGAs almost useless in delivering sound healthcare to the people. Majority of the respondents blamed this on the 1999 constitution which handed up LGAs to the care of the state on a platter of gold. Based on these findings, the paper recommends that LGAs should be given complete autonomy both financially and administratively in order to function as expected of them.