From the outset, this paper argues that at the local government level, personnel management has not received the needed professional attention at least in practice. Consequently, national development suffers from the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of the manpower that is supposed to initiate and sustain it from the grassroots. The significance of personnel is then highlighted, with management and development as theoretical basis. The Local Government personnel management organisation and functions were analysed along the line, using problem – solution approach. In further search for improvements, the paper proposes rigorous reflection on pre-colonial personnel management theory and practice. It wondered at the relative effectiveness and efficiency in the accomplishment of development projects that characterised the pre-colonial peoples that made the present day Nigerian nation. The paper therefore sought to provide a sound theoretical foundation that informed the relationship between personnel management in the local government system and national development, with the hope of presenting empirical quantitative data and analysis to support the main thesis in the near future
Keywords: Local Government, National Development, Nigeria, Personnel management
