Nigeria’s greatest governance scandal is not in Abuja. It is not in the states. It is hidden in plain sight — inside the 774 Local Government Areas that are supposed to serve as the engine room of development.
A report recently released by the Nigerian Local Government Integrity Index (NLGII), has now confirmed what citizens have long suspected but government has refused to confront: the grassroots tier of government is collapsing under the weight of corruption, secrecy and state interference.
The verdict is brutal. 751 LGAs of the 774 — 85 per cent — are operating at “very high” or “critical” corruption risk. This is not mismanagement. This is a national emergency.
For years, local councils have functioned like political fiefdoms — budget documents hidden from the public, audit reports nonexistent, projects untraceable, and billions in FAAC allocations disappearing into a fog of opacity. The NLGII simply puts scientific language to what Nigerians see every day: local government has become the country’s largest, least-policed corruption zone.
The findings are alarming.
Tier 5 councils — 155 of them — include some of the country’s richest and most strategic LGAs: Obio/Akpor, Port Harcourt, Southern Ijaw, Ohaji/Egbema. These are places awash with resources but starved of accountability. The report describes them as vulnerable to criminal capture, political manipulation, and insecurity so severe that even elected officials can not operate freely.
Tier 4, containing an astonishing 503 LGAs, tells an even more damning story — entire states where every local government is considered a very high corruption risk. How can Nigeria talk of development when the structures closest to the people are structurally broken?
The recommendations are drastic but necessary:
– Direct FAAC allocations to LGAs without interference.
– Mandatory EFCC and ICPC oversight.
– Quarterly audited reports.
– Civic campaigns to enforce financial autonomy.
– Digital tools to shut down the opaque cash culture.
If any other sector performed this badly, it would be shut down or placed under federal receivership. But Nigeria continues to pour billions into councils that can not — or will not — account for a single kobo.
This is not just a governance issue; it is a human tragedy. Broken local governments mean broken primary schools, broken health centres, broken water systems, and broken security networks. It means citizens abandoned at the exact level where government is supposed to be closest to them.
The ICPC and EFCC must take the NLGII as a call to arms. State governments must end the unconstitutional habit of hijacking local finances. Nigerians must understand that the fight for transparency begins at the ward level, not only in Abuja.
The truth is simple: a country can not rise when the foundation is rotten.
Nigeria’s local governments are rotting — and unless urgent action is taken, they will keep dragging the nation down with them.
Serving local government chairmen must understand that leadership means service to the people and not an opportunity for personal aggrandisement.
The culture of sharing the common patrimony of the people at the table of any political tin God must stop.
Local legislative assemblies must rise up and perform oversight functions as required by the byelaws of their respective states. Unfortunately, owing to the undemocratic emergence, majority of them are unaware of their functions or have been castrated abinitio from carrying out the duties.
Thus, local government councils continue to bleed under the weight of inept leadership and corruption. Time for a closer look into the finances of the councils in Nigeria is now.
