By Abiodun Folarin
WorldStage– The Founder and Executive Director of Agora Policy, Malam Waziri Adio has expressed concerns over the viability of Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) that have failed to translate public funds into visible development Despite receiving billions of naira in monthly allocations
Agora Policy is a Nigerian think tank focused on evidence-based policy research, advocacy, and reform. Adio said that with the latest Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursements, some LGAs received over N500 million monthly, stressing the need for greater transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement in local government administration. He added that effective governance at the grassroots is critical to national development.
He disclosed this on Thursday at the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) in Abuja during the graduation ceremony of the second cohort of Agora Policy’s Policy Writing Fellowship (PWF) and the unveiling of the Local Governance Accountability (LGA) Portal.
Speaking at the event, Adio described Nigeria’s 774 LGAs as “financial black holes” despite receiving substantial statutory allocations from the Federation Account.
He noted that the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution assigns critical responsibilities to local governments and guarantees them significant funding through 20.60 per cent of statutory revenue allocations, 35 per cent of Value Added Tax (VAT) proceeds, and 10 per cent of states’ internally generated revenue.
According to him, these provisions make Nigerian local governments among the best-funded councils globally.
He said, “Enormous resources are flowing into our LGAs. From FAAC alone, the least allocation to an LGA is about N500 million monthly. Alimosho Local Government received N4.9 billion for January 2026 alone. Yet, our LGAs are almost a black hole; where government should be felt the most is where it is absent the most,” he said.
Adio said the newly launched Local Governance Accountability Portal was designed to empower citizens with the information needed to demand accountability from elected officials and public institutions at the grassroots level.
“Data without agency is just a set of numbers,” he stated, urging Nigerians to leverage the platform to monitor local government finances and service delivery.
The fellowship programme graduated 22 fellows who developed policy papers on a range of contemporary issues, including artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, and air quality management.
In his goodwill message, the Executive Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Dr. Abdullahi Usman Bello, commended Agora Policy and the MacArthur Foundation for promoting transparency and accountability through research and citizen engagement.
Bello disclosed that the Bureau had completed asset declaration verification exercises involving high-risk public officials, including 19 ministers, 37 permanent secretaries, 20 heads of government agencies, and 32 other senior public office holders.
He added that the Bureau had secured the forfeiture of several assets, including a property in London, while numerous cases had been referred to the Code of Conduct Tribunal for prosecution.
“The Bureau has also secured the forfeiture of several assets, including a property in London. We have referred numerous cases to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, and just yesterday we arraigned the Chief of Staff to a state governor,” Bello said.
The CCB chairman further revealed that the Bureau’s Online Asset and Liabilities Declaration System had been fully developed and was ready to support more efficient compliance and monitoring processes.
He noted that the Bureau remained open to partnerships that would promote responsible public access to governance data while safeguarding the security and privacy of public officers required to declare their assets.
The Local Governance Accountability Portal provides free public access to information on financial allocations to local governments from 1999 to date, as well as profiles of councils and elected officials across the country. Organisers said the platform is expected to strengthen transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct in local governance nationwide.
