An Empirical Assessment of Epe Local Government's Delivery of Essential Services at the Grassroots

This study presents an empirical assessment of the performance of Epe Local Government in the delivery of essential public services at the grassroots with particular focus on healthcare, economic support, education, water supply and sanitation. The research investigated how residents perceived the adequacy, accessibility and overall quality of these services. The study is grounded in the understanding that effective local governance plays a critical role in enhancing community wellbeing and supporting human capital development, especially in a fast-developing peri-urban area like Epe. Data for the study was generated through a structured questionnaire administered randomly to 350 residents in different locations within Epe Local Government area. Components of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation were deployed to analyse data; this helped to provide a clear and systematic basis for analysing residents’ responses as well as identifying patterns in service delivery assessments. The findings showed that the local government had a combination of negative and positive assessments on the provision of essential services with a dominance of poor performance in areas such as primary healthcare, education and agriculture support. This pattern undermines the development of human capital and hinders sustainable socio-economic advancement at the grassroots in Epe. The study recommends introduction of financial and administrative reforms that would serve to reposition Epe local government to effectively deliver essential services and promote long-term development in the grassroots.