INCLUDING THE CLIENT

There are many forms of decentralization. However, one of the distinctions that has often be made is between functional and area decentralization. The former entails the transfer of authority to perform specific functions or activities to specialized organizations that have branches nation-wide. An example of functional decentralization is the establishment of field offices within federal ministries dealing with health care, highway construction or agriculture. The later, area decentralization has as its primary objective the transfer of public functions to organizations within well-defined sub-national spatial or political boundaries such as a province, district municipality, river basin or geographical region (Rondinelli, 1981:137)

Furthermore, distinction has also been made among three levels of decentralization – deconcentration, devolution and delegation.

i. Deconcentration

This is an administrative measure involving the transfer of administrative responsibilities and decision making discretion from the central government or headquarters to the field and/or local administration.

Fig 1: Forms of Decentralization

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Decentralization

Deconcentration Delegation Devolution

Departmental field units Special statutory Local government (Region or Provinces) bodies; public

Corporations;

Regional planning

Division or District and area development Authorities

This form of decentralization grants some measure of freedom to the field staff to plan, make routine decisions and adjust the implementation of central directives to local conditions although within guidelines set by the headquarters (Rondinelli, 1981:137). Deconcentration is the least extensive form of decentralization.

Typical example of deconcentration in Nigeria at the federal and state levels include the field divisions of the federal and state ministries of education, works, agriculture, etc, and the Task Forces on road rehabilitation and maintenance.

ii. Delegation

Delegation is a more extensive form of decentralization than deconcentration.

It implies the transfer of decision-making and management authority for specific functions to semi-independent agencies such as public area enterprises, regional planning and area development authorities, multi-purpose and single-purpose functional authorities, and special project implementation units (Luke, 1986:76).

Itis important to mention that often the organization to which the functions are delegated may not be located within the regular government structure. The delegation of functions to public corporations and special authorities has been used extensively by many governments in developing countries and by international lending institutions to execute development schemes (see Boodhoo, 1976:221-236). Also in Nigeria, such Federal agencies and programmes as Directorate of Food, Road and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI), Operation Feed the Nation (OFN); Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), the River Basin Development Authorities et cetra, are good example of delegation of authorities.

iii. Devolution

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Devolution is the most extreme form of decentralization. It involves the derogation of powers and responsibilities over specific functions by the central government to local government and/or special statutory bodies that at least in theory, operate outside the control of the central or federal government. Sine public administration theorists have drawn a distinctions between devolution and decentralization. Sherwood (1969:60-87) and others for example, used

“decentralization to describe an intra-organizational pattern of power relationships’. In contrast, devolution, according to Sherwood (1969:60-87), means “the transfer of power to geographic units of local government that lie outside the command structure of the central government”. Thus, “devolution represents the concept of separateness, of diversity of structures within the political system as a whole” (Sherwood, 1969:60-87).

Based on the above distinction, devolution has certain characteristics (Rondinelli, 1981:138). First, it demands that local government be granted autonomy and independence and be clearly recognized as a tier of government over which the central governments has little or no direct control. Second, the local units must have clear and legally recognized geographical boundaries. Third, local governments must be granted corporate status including the power to raise sufficient revenue to perform assigned functions. Fourth, devolution involves the need to “develop local governments as institutions”. Finally, devolution entails reciprocal, mutually benefiting and coordinate relationships between central and local governments.

According to Up hoff and Esman (1974:xii) “local institutions which are separated and isolated from other levels are likely to be important developmentally”.

Despite the above distinctions, devolution is regarded in this book as a form of decentralization. It represents an attempt by the federal or central government to transfer powers and responsibilities to lower units of government which are granted substantial but not complete autonomy. Also although the above characteristics of devolution may be valid from a Western theoretical or legal perspective, actual requirements are less stringent in developing countries. As Rondinelli (1981:139) rightly points out:

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Devolution is usually seen as a form of decentralization in which local government units are given responsibility for some functions but in which the central government often retains some supervisory powers and may play a large financial role.

It is important to mention that each form of decentralization has different implications for institutional structure or arrangement, the degree of power and authority to be transferred, the degree of local citizen participation and advantages and disadvantages for various groups in the political system (see Luke, 1987:79).

4.0 Conclusion

Local government is a product of decentralization. The decentralization of the powers of central governmental authorities could take the form of deconcertration or devolution. Deconcentration has been defined to mean “the sharing of power between members of the same rulling group having authority respectively in different areas of the state, political structures which essentially represent the interests of the central rulers and depend upon their support, functioning in areas away from the capital city, and units of local administration in which formal decision-making is exercised by centrally appointed officials. Associated with the notion of deconcentration of powers are terms such as field administration, prefectoral administration and delegation of powers. The concept of devolution on the other hand, involves a more effective deconcentralization of governmental powers. Effective deconcentralization involves the devolution of powers and functions from the central government or other lower levels of government as different form, the idea of delegation of power by the central government to officials and departments of regional and local field administration.

5.0 Summary

In this unit, we discussed decentralization. This is important since local government is a product of decentralized administration. We noted that decentralization refers to any transfer of administrative and/or political power or functions from the central or federal government and its agencies to sub-national

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structures or local. We identified the various forms of decentralization – deconcentration, delegation and devolution.

Deconcentration is the transfer of administrative responsibilities and decision making discretion from the central government or headquarters to the field and/or local administration. Delegation which is more extensive form of decentralization than deconcentration involves the transfer of decision-making and management authority for specific functions by the central or federal government to semi-independent agencies such as special statutory bodies, public corporations, regional planning and area development authorities etc. Devolution, the most extreme form of decentralization, involves the transfer of powers and responsibilities over specific functions by the central or federal government to local government and/or special statutory bodies that enjoy substantial autonomy.