State-Local Government Joint Account and Provision of Infrastructure in Adamawa State, Nigeria: 2015-2025

Hardship of living among the rural dwellers in Adamawa State has become an issue due to lack of accessing to adequate infrastructures and social services like primary education, primary health care, road and portable drinking water among others. The main objective of the study is to examine the impact of State-Local Government Joint Account and the provision of infrastructure in Adamawa State Local Government Areas. The research is anchored on the theory of Structural Functionalism propounded by Tiebount (1956), The research adopted mixed method for data collection in order to assess the nexus between State-Local Government Joint Account and provision of infrastructure. The population of the study is 2,336,542 as at 2022 projected population by National Population Commission (2022) covering the six selected local government areas through stratified random sampling within the three senatorial zones i.e (Michika, Mubi South, Hong, Song, Guyuk and Ganye), while the sample size is 400 drawn from the total population using Yamane formula (1967). The population also covers twenty five (25) critical stakeholder from the Ministry of Local Government Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Budget and Planning, Local Government Audit, Accountant General’s office, all Directors of Finance of the Local Government, Chairmen, NULGE representative and traditional rulers who were interviewed as key informants. Data were analyzed through simple statistics of frequencies, tables and percentages (%) The research reveals that, State-Local Government Joint Account system has negative impact on the provision of infrastructure in local government areas of Adamawa State. The research also reveals that, there is no consistent time of releasing funds from the State-Local Government Account to local councils after the federation allocation. It is usually delayed by the state government due to unnecessary protocols and interests. Findings also reveal that, there is a significant interference on the monies of local government by political actors which leads to poor provision of infrastructure. Finally, the study recommends that, there should be a constitutional reform in order to restore the financial and fiscal autonomy of the local government councils to enable them discharge their constitutional responsibilities, unnecessary interference with the monies of the local government council by the state governor should be highly minimized or stopped.