By Onwuha Ijeoma Mirian
Motivation is of enormous importance with regard to enhancing performance in organization. It is mostly used in organizations to increase job performance and consequently job satisfaction among workers. The activities of any organization are determined by the human resources of that organization. If the human resources are not well managed and maintained, it will have a disadvantageous effect on that organization. Local government system in Nigeria is an Organization where workers employed are not committed to the organizational set goals and objectives due to lack of motivation, rather they indulged in indisciplinary act like lateness to work, unwillingness to work, ghost workers etc which led to low performance within the local government system. This study assessed the impact of motivation on performance in Nigeria local Governments: A study of local governments in Abia state. 580 respondents from six local governments across the three senatorial zones in Abia state was used for the study. Relevant literature of erudite scholars were reviewed, the study adopted Abraham Maslow needs theory as a theoretical framework. Hypotheses formulated were carried out in order to generate data from the study area. Chi square was used to test the three hypotheses. The result obtained from the analysis showed that there exist a significant relationship between motivation and performance. The findings of the study reveals that poor motivation of workers hinders their performance. The researcher recommends that all local government system in Nigeria should motivate its staff with good incentives like promotion, training, medical facilities, good housing etc in order to increase their level of performance towards achievement of organizational goals.