Abstract
Most developing countries have adopted decentralization since the last two decades of the twentieth century as a mechanism of bringing government closer to the people, ensuring greater government efficiency and making the government more inclusive. In spite of operating a federal system of government, Nigeria still manifests some high level of tendency towards centralization especially in some critical sectors. Politics in Nigeria is elitist and highly monetized, as such majority of the population, such as the poor, women and the young people seem to be excluded to a great extent in terms of political participation as well as policy formulation. The study examined decentralization and the inclusiveness of the different segments of the population in the governance of Ogun state, one of Nigeria’s 36 states, located in the South West geo-political zone of the country. The study adopted descriptive research design and utilized qualitative data. In-depth interview of the 68 respondents was used to gather data which was content analyzed. There is still tendency towards centralization with the sub-national governments depending on the central government in certain sectors. The state government made meaningful attempts to implement policies and programmes that served the interests of the poor, children, youth, women and the elderly. However, the level of women representation in electable public position was low falling below the United nations recommendation of 30% affirmative action on gender.
