FINANCIAL AUTONOMY AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA: A STAKEHOLDER'S PERSPECTIVE

The issue of financial autonomy has always generated a lot of interest amongst stakeholders and it continues to do so. However, opinions on the association between financial autonomy and rural development are diverse. Hence, this study is fixated on investigating the perspectives of stakeholders regarding the nexus between Financial Autonomy and Rural Development inselected local governments in Ogun State. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design method. Data were obtained through the administration of 400 copies of a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire in three-selected local councils in Ogun State, Nigeria. Descriptive statistics as well as the Kruskal-Wallis H test were the analytical techniques adopted. The study reveals a consensus in the different occupation/workgroups, i.e. that financial autonomy accelerates rural development in Ogun State Local Governments. The result suggests that local councils will be better positioned to contribute to the national economy if their resources are managed with little or no interference from the state government. The paper recommends the enactment of legislation that will give autonomy to local governments to generate and manage their financial resources without undue meddling by other tiers of government, and hence, engender better service delivery and rural development.