Only 10 states publish local government budget data, report finds

Just ten of Nigeria’s 36 states currently make local government area budget data publicly accessible, leaving the finances of the tier of government closest to ordinary citizens almost entirely hidden from scrutiny, according to a new report by civic technology organisation BudgIT.

The report, titled The Missing Tier: Mapping Local Government Budget Transparency in Nigeria, found that six states publish partial or outdated information while 20 states make no LGA budget documents available at all — a finding that BudgIT says reflects institutional choice rather than any lack of capacity.

“Where they are withheld, accountability stops at the state level, leaving the tier closest to citizens financially opaque,” the organisation said.

Who is publishing — and how

Among states that do publish, Ekiti stands out as the leading example. The state makes individual 2026 budgets available for all 16 of its LGAs and 22 LCDAs, each accompanied by a signed PDF, town hall consultation minutes, and a nationally standardised Excel template. Cross River goes further still, publishing individual council budgets, audited accounts from the previous year, and quarterly budget performance reports. Borno, which administers 27 LGAs, provides a consolidated budget alongside individual council improvement plans and audited financial statements.

Other states with published LGA budget documents include Ebonyi, Osun, Kebbi, Kogi, Enugu, Kaduna, and Yobe — though the depth and format of disclosure vary considerably among them.

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The laggards

Six states — Kano, Imo, Ondo, Anambra, Ogun, and one other — provide incomplete or outdated data. Kano maintains a local government audit portal and publishes quarterly performance reports, but has no full-year approved council budgets on record. Imo has no published LGA budget at all, though a 2024 financial statement from the Accountant-General is available. Anambra published an appropriation law for 2026, but without the line-item detail that would make it meaningful to the public.

Twenty states publish nothing whatsoever. The list includes some of Nigeria’s wealthiest and most populous — among them Lagos, Rivers State, whose 2026 state budget exceeds ₦1 trillion, Delta, Oyo, Edo, and Akwa Ibom. Their absence is particularly striking given that, as BudgIT notes, all of them already publish their own state-level budgets online.

A matter of commitment, not complexity

That contradiction sits at the heart of BudgIT’s argument. The organisation maintains that the infrastructure and institutional knowledge required to publish LGA budgets already exist across Nigerian states, and that the failure to do so is therefore a political decision rather than a technical limitation.

“Since state governments already publish their own budgets online, extending the same standard to local councils is neither complex nor costly,” the report states. “It is a matter of institutional choice.”

The stakes of that choice, BudgIT argues, are considerable. Nigeria’s 774 local governments receive monthly allocations from the federation account and prepare appropriation bills that are approved by their respective councils — yet for most, those figures remain locked in secretariat files, invisible to the citizens they are meant to serve.

“When LGA budgets are made public, citizens can understand government priorities, scrutinise allocations, and hold officials accountable,” the organisation said. “The difference between these two realities is not capacity. It is commitment.”