Local government system of administration is very important to all countries of the world. However the local government system in Nigeria has been enveloped by a lot of challenges on how to perform their strategic roles for the transformation of lives of the people.  This paper assesses the extent the local government system in Benue State as a third tier of government performs the functions and roles towards the objective to which it was established. Findings attributed the problems of local government to operational factors arising from the attitudes of persons who operate the system as it hinders equitable distribution of amenities as well as the lack of autonomy of the local government. The paper concludes that the autonomy granted to local governments can only be useful and achieve its good objectives if those who exercise will powers at the very level elect to abandon the old ways of doing things and put the people first.The paper recommends among others that: All actions taken by the local government officials must be in tandem with provisions of the laws and rules regulating their official conducts.