Oyedele, Samuel OlanrewajuOsezua, Ehiyamen MediayanoseAbdulkareem, Abdulrazaq KayodeIshola, Abdulrasaq Ajadi2018-05-232018-05-232017-011) Oyedele, S.O., Osezua, E.M., Abdulkareem, A. K., & Ishola, A.A (2017). Local Government Administration and National Development in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects. Ilorin Journal of Human Resource Management. Published by Department of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management, University of Ilorin, Ilorin. 1(1). (142-154)2579-0442http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/294The local government constitutes the most critical level of government in the move for sustainable national development. Over the years, national development has been canvassed to take off from the grassroots as the local government is widely known as a vital instrument for rural transformation and machinery for effective delivery of socioeconomic services to the people. In the light of this, in 1976, the nationwide local government reform was initiated where the local governments were saddled with more functions, responsibilities and finances. However, this development has led to wide disparity in what should be expected of the local government and what is actually happening in the local government in terms of socio-economic service delivery for national development which is the central focus of this paper. The aim of this paper is to discuss the challenges confronting the local government in carrying out its functions as a level of government as well as highlight the prospects for local government as an engine of national development. This paper has adopted a conceptual approach through the use of secondary sources of data to analyse the objective. It is discovered in this paper that the local government has lost its footing in the developmental process due to unwarranted encroachment into the administration, finance and operations of the local government by the state governments. Therefore, it is recommended in this paper that for local government to be vibrant and perform up to expectation, a constitutional amendment must be made to cede the local government away as an appendage of the state government.enLocal GovernmentNigeriaNational DevelopmentArticle