STATE CAPTURE AND LOCAL GOVERNANCE: ANALYZING DEVELOPMENTAL CHALLENGES IN ENUGU STATE WITHIN NIGERIA’S POLITICAL ECONOMY

Abstract

This article interrogates the relationship between state capture and local governance in Enugu State, Nigeria, with particular attention to its implications for democratic accountability, citizen participation, and grassroots development. While Nigeria’s decentralised constitutional framework formally positions local governments as engines of participatory governance and service delivery, empirical evidence suggests that these institutions are systematically constrained by elite domination at the state–local interface. Adopting a political economy perspective, the study examines how fiscal, political, and administrative capture mechanisms undermine local autonomy and weaken the civic foundations of governance. Using a mixed-methods design, the research draws on survey data from 221 respondents across three Local Government Areas, twenty key informant interviews, field observations, and documentary analysis. The findings reveal pervasive state control over local government finances through the State Joint Local Government Account, the routine replacement of elected councils with caretaker committees, politicised procurement practices, and limited transparency in budgeting and oversight. These dynamics erode downward accountability, marginalise civil society and community participation, and translate into poor service delivery, abandoned projects, and uneven development outcomes. The article argues that local developmental failures in Enugu State are less the result of resource scarcity than of governance arrangements that centralise power and enable elite capture. By foregrounding the civil society and accountability dimensions of subnational governance, the study contributes to interdisciplinary debates on decentralisation, democracy, and state–society relations in the Global South.