In recent weeks, the debate around local government administration in Osun State has intensified. At the center of the conversation is the revelation that over ?58.9 billion in federal allocations, meant for the 30 local government areas in the state, has been withheld between February and June 2025. The funds, confirmed through records from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, remain inaccessible due to the prolonged closure of council secretariats.
The amount in question is not just a line in government accounts. It represents real opportunities that could transform communities, create jobs, and lift thousands of people out of poverty. In this piece, our analyst notes that the failure to put these resources to work raises difficult questions about governance, accountability, and the very purpose of local government in Nigeria.
The Role of Local Government in Grassroots Development
Local governments are designed to be the closest tier of government to the people. They are supposed to provide essential services such as primary education, healthcare, rural roads, water supply, sanitation, and community development. When councils are shut down or denied access to resources, these responsibilities remain unmet, and citizens at the grassroots suffer the consequences.
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In Osun, the prolonged political and legal crisis has created a vacuum in service delivery. Council offices have remained closed, and by extension, the flow of development projects has been stalled. Yet, while the political arguments drag on, the people are denied the practical benefits of the N58.9 billion that should have been invested in their welfare.
What N58.9bn Could Have Achieved
To put the withheld allocations into perspective, consider the transformative potential of such an amount if it had been directed toward real needs.
In education, building and equipping a standard secondary school costs around N150 million. The withheld funds could have delivered nearly 400 schools across the state. Alternatively, existing schools could have been renovated, with provisions for digital learning tools and scholarships for students.
In healthcare, a functional primary healthcare center requires between N50 and N70 million. Osun could have built at least 800 such facilities, ensuring that even the most remote villages have access to doctors and nurses. Hospitals could also have been equipped with modern facilities to reduce maternal and infant deaths.
For roads, rural communities often struggle with isolation, especially during the rainy season. The cost of constructing one kilometer of rural road is around ?200 to ?300 million. The allocations could have provided 200 to 250 kilometers of new roads, connecting farmers to markets and children to schools.
In water and sanitation, a motorized borehole costs about N10 million. Osun could have drilled almost 6,000 boreholes, ensuring safe drinking water for nearly every community. This alone would have drastically reduced cases of waterborne diseases.
In job creation, N1 billion could establish an agro-processing or vocational training center. The withheld funds could have financed 50 to 60 such centers, offering skills and employment to thousands of young people. If disbursed as N500,000 loans or grants to small businesses, over 117,000 entrepreneurs could have been empowered to expand their ventures.
Housing also presents a compelling opportunity. At a cost of N5 million per low-cost housing unit, the allocations could have produced more than 11,000 new homes. This would have reduced slum conditions in urban areas and provided affordable housing for working families.
The Human Cost of Inaction
Beyond the numbers lies the real human cost of the withheld allocations. Each day of delay in resolving the political deadlock means that a mother must still walk miles to access healthcare, a farmer must still struggle to move crops from farm to market, and a child must still learn in a dilapidated classroom.
When grassroots development stalls, poverty deepens, and trust in governance erodes. Citizens begin to see government as distant, uncaring, and ineffective. Over time, this disconnection weakens democracy itself, since people lose faith in the promise that governance should improve their lives.
Rethinking Governance and Accountability
The case of Osun should prompt broader reflection on the state of local government in Nigeria. The constitutional ambiguity around local government autonomy has allowed state governments to exercise overwhelming control over council finances through the State Joint Local Government Account. This structure often undermines transparency and accountability, and Osun is only one of many states where grassroots governance has been crippled.
What is urgently needed is not only the resolution of the immediate leadership crisis but also a structural reform that guarantees financial and administrative independence for local councils. Civil society organisations like the Insight Initiative for Community and Social Development have already raised their voices, reminding all stakeholders that governance should be about service to the people, not partisan battles.