The topical issue of local government (LG) autonomy in Nigeria in relation to the development of
the localities, the raison d’etre of LGs, has been examined in this paper. Proceeding from theoretical
framework and conceptualizations for clearer understanding, the paper discusses some dominant
autonomy issues. These include representative LGs, the size of LGs, revenue, and personnel. The
paper found that inadequate handling of virtually all the above issues has posed some challenges for
LGs’ developmental efforts in the localities. Inadequate autonomy has been found to be the
independent variable in the challenges. Other challenges include inadequate finances, weak
intergovernmental relations, fledging democracy and grand corruption. These must be adequately
tackled for LGs to make more positive impact in the localities. Some pertinent recommendations are as
follows. LGs need adequate autonomy, hard work rather than verbal institutionalization, democratic
consolidation, reduced corruption, increased discipline and application of the rule of law.