Succession Planning and Knowledge Management in Local Government Institutions: A Study of Abia State

This study examines succession planning practices and knowledge management systems in local government institutions across Abia State, South East Nigeria. Local government administrations face significant institutional memory losses when experienced officials retire or are politically replaced without structured knowledge transfer mechanisms, disrupting the continuity of programs, institutional processes, and inter-community relationships that are critical to governance effectiveness. Using a professional research design, data is gathered from 90 respondents including senior local government career officials, human resource officers, retired council administrators, and Abia State Local Government Service Commission representatives through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The Knowledge Management Theory and the Organizational Learning Framework provide the theoretical grounding. Secondary data includes Abia State Civil Service reform reports, Institute of Public Administration Nigeria publications, and recent academic literature on public sector succession planning in Nigeria. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis are employed. Findings are expected to reveal the absence of formal succession plans in all sampled local government councils in Abia State, heavy reliance on individual knowledge retention rather than institutional documentation, and poor knowledge transfer during leadership transitions. Practical recommendations include development of a structured knowledge management policy for Abia State local governments, mandatory documentation of critical administrative processes, creation of institutional memory repositories, and mentorship programs pairing experienced officials with mid-career staff. Keywords: Succession planning, knowledge management, local government, Abia State, institutional learning.