A Review of the Project Cycle and Project Implementation at the Third Tier Level of Government in Nigeria: A Theoretical Reflection

Abstract

The study is a theoretical exposition on the main reason behind the numerous abandoned and uncompleted projects that are now common sights at the third tier level of government in Nigeria, which is the Local Government. It is interesting to note that some of the main reasons often given for the inability of the local governments to play effective role in the development planning and execution process, include: lack of management and technical personnel; inappropriately and inadequately trained manpower; inadequate financial resources, the unstable political structure of local governments, federal government’s top-down approach to planning and resources mobilization for development at the local level and poor coordination between the state government’s machinery responsible for community development and the local governments which community development projects are located. Similarly, some other general reasons given for non-implementation of development projects and their consequent non-completion or abandonment at the local governments level are:- mismanagement of funds, inflation, unfai9thfulness of contractors, wrong planning, frequent changes of political leadership, inter and intra-communal conflicts, resistance or opposition from community members, lack of funds, ecological constraints etc. Critical and analytical examination of the above reasons commonly adduced for poor project execution and management at the third tier level of government in Nigeria shows that they constitute only symptoms and not the problem. The problem as we identified is lack of adoption of an articulate, programmed and focused framework for project conceptualization, planning execution, monitoring and evaluation. It is therefore, our strong belief and contention that if local governments had adopted the project cycle approach in their development planning and execution, most of the problems identified above would not have arisen. The project cycle approach is strongly recommended for adoption at the third tier level.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p595