Reconstructing the Present through the Past: Remedying Social Services Delivery Failure among the Yorubas of Nigeria

Abstract

The pre-colonial Yoruba nation had well organised political and administrative structures which were truncated by the 19thc British occupation of the territory. By 1960, Nigeriagot her independence with full expectations that the new government will usher in developments especially in the area of social service delivery and contrary to the expectations, the hopes were dashed. The paper examines the collective action approach which the Yoruba nation adopted to tackle the problems of social services delivery failure. The paper concludes that for efficient and effective delivery of services, it is necessary to establish an effective mutual link between the leaders and the led.