THE recent reminder by an elder statesman, Afe Babalola, of how state governments have pulverised the local governments by hijacking their allocations should provoke Nigerians to demand accountability from their elected officials. An opportunity has arisen in Ogun State where the impeached Chairman of the Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, accused Governor Dapo Abiodun of denying LGs their statutory funds only to be countered by the 19 other LG bosses. All stakeholders in the state should therefore demand an accounting from the council chiefs.

Babalola, a legal luminary, advised President Bola Tinubu to ensure that LGs received their allocations directly without interference or subversion from the state governments. He said, “I think the current president should do all he can to ensure that local government allocation gets to them directly and not through the governors because they (governors) steal a lot.”

Across the country, underdevelopment is prevalent as the LGs have become comatose, notorious for idleness. Their excuse, and confirmed by numerous agencies, is that state governors hijack their funds under diverse guises through the State/Local Government Joint Account.

Ogun State residents should seize this chance. Since 19 out of the state’s 20 LG chairman have declared emphatically that they have indeed been receiving their allocations from the Federation Account and other funds, they should render an account to the electorate. This is imperative as residents complain frequently of poor roads, lack of potable water, broken primary health care facilities and general hardship. Communities, opinion leaders, youth and women’s groups should mobilise to their respective LG HQs and demand answers from the LG chairmen.

Disowning Adedayo, the other Ogun LG bosses went to Abeokuta, the state capital, to prostrate before Abiodun and beg for “forgiveness” for their colleague’s allegations. This gives the citizens leeway to demand details of appropriation, expenditure, and projects from them.

Adedayo, in an open letter to a party elder and copied to the anti-graft agencies, said the state government diverted the LGs’ statutory federal allocations between 2021 and 2023. He said the N10.8 billion funds for the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme were similarly diverted, while the 10 per cent of the state’s internally generated revenue that should be disbursed to LGs by law were also withheld.

However, the 19 other Ogun LG chairmen insisted that LG funds were “transparently disbursed and managed between 2021 and 2023.”

Some residents of the Ijebu Ode LGA issued a 48-hour ultimatum, demanding that their LG Chairman, Babatunde Emiola-Gazal, render an account of allocations accrued to the council or risk a protest. Other LGs’ residents, by diverse peaceful and lawful means, should follow suit.

In August, residents of Laderin, Olokuta, and Idi-Aba communities in Abeokuta South LGA, had lamented the hardship they encountered in accessing the Wole Soyinka train station in Abeokuta, due to the dilapidated road. Some residents of Olorunsogo in the Obafemi Owode LGA are reportedly moving out of the area due to the two-year-old power blackout.

But the state government recently stated that it disbursed N1.8 billion to the LGs for infrastructure and insists that it has been funding them over the years.

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation said the 36 states received N296 billion, and LGs N218 billion for June 2023. The states shared N1.4 trillion from the FAAC between January and June 2022.

Nigeria’s taxpayers must begin to constantly demand transparency and accountability from their state and local governments. That is what sustains democracy. Ogun provides a good starting point.

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