Traditional Institution and the Modern Dayadministration of Nigeria : Issues and Prospects

Abstract

The traditional rulers is the paramount authority or natural ruler in any given community. They provide a system of administration from which law and order came and provided a stably system of governance. The objective of this paper is to examine the role of traditional institutions in modern day administration. The paper which is theoretical in nature basically, draws its arguments from secondary data including textbooks, journals, articles and publications. The paper reveals that the current 1999constitution, however did not mention the traditional institution at all thereby reversing most of the gains the institution made over the years, traditional rulers possess accurate local knowledge going back many years and may also have good networks of communication with the grassroots through title holders, traditional ruler were accorded with responsibility during colonial rule, they were members of colonial administration apparatus they were given wide power over matters in their domain. The paper concludes that, traditional rulers play a very significant role of informally managing conflict and peace making meetings when matters get out of hand, they also serves as advisory role to the local council. The paper recommends that for effective political transformation to be achieved the need to involve traditional ruler which should courts with some responsibility to 1999 constitution they serves as bridge between the government and the people, advisory role to government in administration at both national and sub-national levels and to serves the role in conflict management.