Public Participation in Local Government Planning and Development: Evidence from Lagos State, Nigeria

When members of the public are given the opportunity to participate in local governance, the benefits are immeasurable. Unfortunately, the structure and mechanisms for promoting public participation, especially in the context of a developing country, is underexplored. In this paper, we examine the structure and mechanisms for public participation in two randomly selected communities within Lagos Mainland Area of Lagos State, Nigeria. Specifically, we measure public participation in terms of the quality of interaction among the members of the community, as well as the interaction between the community and the Local Government Council. Selected Heads of Traditional Councils in these communities were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The findings show that “face-toface†relationship is a dominant strategy for promoting public participation within t he Makoko/Iwaya communities. Consequently, we established that the potential of ICT in the promoting of public participation is far from being explored in these communities. The corresponding policy implications are discussed and recommendations to enhancethe use of ICT for promoting public participation are suggested