Local Government Financial Information Communication, Citizenry Awareness and Empowerment in Nigeria

Abstract

The impact of the federal and state governments is felt by the citizens through infrastructural provision of the local governments, because local governments are governments at the grassroots. The citizens are not feeling this impact, so this paper set out to survey the effect of local government’s financial information communication on infrastructural provision and the empowerment of the citizens. Thirteen local governments out of 27 from Imo State, Nigeria were used as a case study. Data was collected by the use of questionnaire on 1840 respondents and analysed using SPSS software and reported in figures, tables and graphs. The study found that the citizens are aware of the infrastructure that would generate employment for them if available. The citizens also have 5 most acceptable sources of information. A model of financial information communication, financial information awareness and citizenry economic empowerment was developed after the study. As of compulsion, allocated and generated finances of local governments should be made available for public consumption every quarter. The federal government should promulgate a law making it compulsory for the local governments to make their activities and plans known to their citizens.

Key Words: Financial information, Citizenry empowerment, Economic empowerment, Infrastructural development, Information communication