Development is a sine qua non for modern advancement. In all nooks and cranny of our society, the local government as the third tier of government that is nearest to the people is saddled with the responsibility of advancement. Development is highly associated with fund, much revenue is needed to plan, execute and maintain infrastructures and facilities at the local government level.
The needed revenue generated for such development project like construction of public schools, health care centers, construction of bridges among others are solely generated from taxes, loyalties, haulages, fines and grants from states, federal and international government.
Thus the local government cannot embark, execute and possibly carryout the maintenance of these projects and other responsibilities without adequate revenue generation.
This prevailing situation is the basic reason why development is skeletal at some local government councils in Nigeria. The issue of poor revenue is not exceptional to local government in Anambra state. This has been one of the problems encountered in many other parts of Nigeria.
This however significantly affected development negatively in local government councils. In this research project, the issue to address is to investigate the extent to which the challenge of poor revenue generation affected development especially in Orumba north local government area.
Orumba North Local Government Area is located in the town of Ajalli and the local government covers the towns of Akpu, Ajalli, Amaokpalla, Amaetiti, Awa, Nanka, Ndikelionwu, Ndiokolo, Ndiokpola, Ndiowu, Ndiukwue, Okpoeze, Omogho and Ufuma Oko and Awgbu.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The local government council takes direct care of the grassroots people, that is, the people in the rural area. This group of people sometimes lacks essential facilities and condition of modern advancement. They lack pipe bore water to drink, do not have electricity, accessible roads, poor educational and basic healthcare infrastructure and facilities.
This is one of the major reinforcement of rural urban migration resulting in congested cities and increase in crime rate in urban areas. From the foregoing, it is obvious that the revenue generation on the development of the local government area is a serious problem. For Nigeria to achieve her desired goal of vision 2020, and possibly meet the millennium development goals (MDG) targets, the issue of poor revenue generation must be seriously addressed.
Hence, the researcher is concerned about the impact of poor revenue generation on the lives of the people in the rural urban and the extent to which it has negatively impacted development in general especially in Orumba north local government.
The broad objective of the research is to evaluate the poor revenue generation and development of Orumba north local government area of Anambra state.
The specific objectives of this study includes;
Hypothesis 1:
Ho: Revenue generation does not impact meaningful development in Orumba North local government
Hi: Revenue generation impact meaningful development in Orumba North local government
Hypothesis 2:
Ho: Availability of social amenities does not constitute significant development of Orumba North local government area.
Hi: Availability of social amenities constitutes significant development of Orumba North local government area.
The significance of any human endeavor is measured by its relevance to solving human problems.
The findings of this study will help Orumba north local government to identify the problems associated with revenue generation and its consequences on the development of the communities. It will equally serve as a resource material for future works in this area.
The study is on the impact of poor revenue generation and how it affects development of local government areas. It also involves the analysis of problems associated with revenue generation and its impact on the development of Orumba north local government council.
The researcher was constraint by the time frame for the submission of this research was short for an extensive research. The research equally encountered financial limitation. The lack of sponsorship made it more cumbersome for the researcher, with only little resources to cover large area. The unwillingness of most local government staff to supply the needed data was another major problem.
Some concept requires proper explanation to enhance the understanding of the terms –some of the terms which need definition include:
Local government: According to Lawal (2000) local government as a political sub-division of a nation in federal system which is constituted by law and has substantial control of local affairs which includes the power to impose taxes or exact labour for prescribed purpose.
According to William Robson (2006) define local government as involving the conception of territorial non-government community possessing the legal right and the necessary organization to regulate its own affairs.
Revenue: Public revenue could be defined as the funds generated by the government to finance its activities. In other words, revenue is the total fund generated by government ( federal, state and local) government to meet their expenditure for a final year.
This refers also to the ground total of money of income received from the source of which expenses are incurred. Revenue could be internal or external revenue.
Generation: This is the process of sourcing revenue of the local government to carryout their aim and objectives.
Tax: Tax can be defined as a compulsory levy by the government on goods, services, income and wealth. It provides definite source of revenue for government expenditure. (Udeh 2008). It is the way by which government obtain extra money, it spent from income of individual and companies. Tax could be direct or indirect tax. A tax is a payment made by the payers and used by the government for the benefit of all the citizens.
Tax avoidance: Tax avoidance is the act of streamlining ones financial affairs within the law so as to minimize the liabilities.
Development: According to Ake (2001) Development is the process by which people create and recreate themselves and their life circumstances to realize higher level of civilization in accordance with their own choice and values. Its also a type of social change in which new ideas are introduced into s social in order to produce higher per capital income and levels of living through more modern production methods and improved social organization.
1.10 Organization of the Study
This research work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one, is the introduction chapter which contains the background to the study, statement of the problem, research questions, purpose of the study, hypothesis, significance of the study, scope of the study, limitations of the study, operationalization /definition of terms and organization of the study.
Chapter two deals with the literature review and theoretical framework.
Chapter three of this study is the research methodology and it contains research design, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, method of data collection, instruments for data collection, reliability of instruments and method of data analysis.
Chapter four, deals with data presentation and analysis which include analysis of research questions, testing of hypothesis and interpretation of results.
The last chapter which is chapter five, deals with summary, conclusion and recommendations of the research work.