Since the return to civil rule in 1999, there has been sustained agitation for granting local governments autonomy as a prescription for them to deliver efficiently and effectively their assigned responsibilities. Thus, the article examines the local government system in Nigeria from both legal, fiscal, and political viewpoints. It focuses on how the context affects their structure, financial management, capacity, and performance. A combined reading of the provisions of the 1999 constitution, judicial and extra-judicial pronouncements will be revealed that everything relating to supervision, monitoring, and control of local governments in Nigeria is the prerogative of the state governments. The constitution charges the state governments to ensure their existence under a law, specifying their functions, structure, finances, and composition. Through qualitative study, drawing from the literature on the local government system in Nigeria and in-depth interviews with government officials a.....

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