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Urban population growth and the spatial expansion of cities in Nigeria have been on the rise. The urbanisation rate confirms the prediction that the 21st century is ‘an urban millennium’ (United Nations Human Settlement Programme [UN-HABITAT] 2002). It is estimated that by 2025, the percent urban in Nigeria would have tremendously increased (60.3%) and by 2050 the share of the population living in urban areas (75.4%) will be about three times the share of the population living in rural areas (24.6%) (UN-HABITAT & UNEP, 2010). This trend of urbanisation has revealed that the urban population and physical expansion of Nigerian urban areas will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. The great majority of the increase in the urban population will be previously rural residents who either migrate to the cities or are living in peripheral villages which will become incorporated into the main urban areas.
In Nigeria, the menace associated with rapid urban growth is well documented (Memon, 2002; Daramola, 2012; Olawuni & Daramola, 2013; Daramola, 2016; Daramola & Olowoporoku, 2017; Olowoporoku, 2017). The rate of waste generation and lack of capacity to properly dispose of that waste creates challenges for solid waste management. Also, lack of water supply and poor wastewater services are challenges in urban water management (Memon 2002, Daramola & Olowoporoku 2016). Beside these are problems of urban crime and urban poverty. These social, economic and environmental challenges which urban settlements face, coupled with the speed of urban expansion, emphasises the need for new approaches to local governance. However, despite the rising concern, less attention has been paid to urban governance in Nigeria.
Studies have established it that Nigerian cities are not properly governed (Falade, 2010; Olawuni & Daramola, 2013; Daramola & Olowoporoku, 2017). This is attributable to lack of municipal administration. The determination of the administrative boundaries of local government areas gives no recognition to municipal administration. Cities such as Lagos, Ibadan and Kano contain multiple independent local governments within their metropolitan areas. As such, coordinated city management becomes a difficult task and ensuring good urban governance remains a daunting challenge in Nigeria. These are with several implications. The resulting experiences include institutional fragmentation, multiplication of agencies, disparity of powers and responsibilities across different tiers and departments of governmental and non-governmental institutions, confusion over who does what and disjointed development. To avoid this, a municipal administration is necessary. It is characterised with an area delimited by well-defined administrative boundaries; predominantly urban in character; and governed by a local elected body (Popescu, 2006).
The practice of municipal administration is historical in Nigeria. Before the colonisation by Britain in 1861, traditional paramount rulers were in charge of city administration. The Nigerian cities were characterised with self-governance in commerce, security and environmental sanitation. In the colonial era, Native Administrative Authority was introduced as an attempt to fit local administration to the traditional political structure (Falade 1985). Cities were considered as centres of governance expected to generate revenue and perform urban functions on their own. However, negation of the idea of municipal administration started with creation of multiple of urban local governments in Nigeria leading to divergence in the practice of city-wide governance system.