RETHINKING HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL AUTONOMY IN NIGERIA

The Nigerian local government system, the fulcrum of grassroot governance, is grossly undermined by highly diminished autonomy. Autonomy is often confined to financial independence, to the exclusion of sound human resource management, without which sound financial management is naught. The objective of this study is therefore, to examine the effect of the procedural compliance by Local Government Councils with the protocols established by Public Service Rules in the acquisition (recruitment, test, selection and placement), development and motivation of manpower on the quality of human resource management in selected Local Government Councils in Nasarawa and Enugu States, Nigeria. Employing a triangulated research design encompassing descriptive and quantitative approaches, the study found, among others, a pervasive deviation of human resource practices from the established Rules. It was therefore, concluded that compliance with the Rules is a sine quanon for the achievement of efficient management of Councils‘ financial and other resources, without which the sustainability of local government autonomy would be impractical. Accordingly, it was recommended, that Councils should prioritise and institutionalise human resource management practices that comply with the Rules, devoid of practices that align with ascriptive-inhibitions.