Problems of Personnel Management in Nigeria: the Nigerian Local Government System Experience

Good organizational structure alone, does not guarantee enhanced performance and increased productivity but with well-managed personnel. Personnel is therefore, a critical factor in the attainment of organizational goals. This is because all the organizational activities are initiated and determined by the persons who make up that institution, as plants, offices, computers, automated equipments and all else that a modern firm uses are unproductive except for human effort and direction. However, these abilities and capabilities of the personnel to contribute significantly to the attainment of organizational goals have contemporary, been hindered and hampered by some issues that are amenable. The local government as an institution cannot be exempted. The importance of personnel in the local government cannot be over-emphasized, so it becomes very essential that the personnel of the local government should be judiciously managed to achieve the goals of the local government. In the light of the above, this paper examines the importance of personnel, its sourcing, recruitment and maintenance and the problems they encounter in the course of administering the local government and then proffer some tangible solutions to the problem.