Samuel Olusegun AJANAKU2024-05-172024-05-172022-12Kate TurabianPhDhttps://repository.lcu.edu.ng/handle/123456789/137Local government (LG) constitutes a critical tier of government because it is the third tier and closest level of government to the citizens, strategically placed to serve as an effective instrument to achieve economic prosperity for the grassroots. However, a critical review of LG showed they had not achieved excellent service delivery. Poor service delivery reflected in poor service quality, operational inefficiency, and poor responsiveness to community needs remain an overwhelming challenge in most local governments in Nigeria. Thus, strengthening LG leadership and administrative capacity become critical in addressing these LG poor service delivery. A mixed research design was adopted with a population of 7,840,864, including LG-employee and their citizens. A sample size of 384 was computed through Krejcie and Morgan's sample-size table for the LG-employees and residents, respectively. The study adopted the multistage sampling technique to select the LG-employee and the purposive sampling to select the residents. The instrument designed for the study was adapted and validated. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient range between 0.76 and 0.81. The response rate of 60.41% and 66.92% was achieved for both populations, and data were analysed through descriptive, content analysis, and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that Political leadership and administrative capacity had positive and significant effect on service delivery of selected LG in Oyo State, Nigeria Adj R2=0.462; p < 0.05, Q2 =0.148). The study concluded a statistically significant effect of political leadership and administrative capacity on service delivery of selected LGs in Oyo State, Nigeria. The study recommended that the management of the LGs investigated should focus on improving service delivery by enhancing its administrative capacity through innovative and strategic planning and should also prioritize its good leadership process to improve citizenship engagement, operational efficiency, quality services, and responsiveness, which will eventually improve service delivery.  Keywords: Political leadership; Administrative Capacity; Service Delivery; Local Government Authority Word Count: 292enThesis