From mountains of trash in Lagos to chairmen arrested abroad, our LGAs are failing everyday Nigerians — even when the money is on the table. This is a Story No Clear wake-up call.
When a government office is described as “local,” people expect small problems and quick fixes: a pothole patched, a market cleared, a clinic that gives injections instead of excuses. Instead, millions of Nigerians live in places where the local government seems to have outsourced civic duty to bad luck and long silences.
This is not opinion soapbox. It’s receipts.
1) The money comes — sometimes a lot of it — and the streets still stink
Between July 2024 and June 2025, some Lagos local governments received billions in allocations (examples: Alimosho, Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Kosofe each appearing near the top of allocation charts), while residents still battle overflowing dumpsites and choking stench in neighborhoods like Oke-Afa and Oshodi. In short: there’s evidence of large allocations, and there’s evidence people still wade through trash every day. That gap — money in, services out — is the headline failure.
Comedic beat (because anger needs comic relief): if LGAs had loyalty cards, they’d be on “Buy 10 allocations, get 1 public toilet — never redeemed.”
2) Lagos: mountains of trash, mountains of reasons not to act
Lagos produces tens of thousands of tons of waste every day. Investigations and reporting show landfills and dumpsites overcapacity, bad management, and an overwhelmed system — while enforcement and long-term planning lag. Residents and environmental activists have publicly called out both the state and its local partners for failing to convert budget lines into functioning sanitation on the ground. That’s a public health time bomb.
3) Abuja (FCT) and big budgets that deserve big scrutiny
In the Federal Capital Territory, individual area councils have been publishing multi-billion-naira budgets; for example, Bwari Area Council presented a N22 billion budget for 2024 (N14.9bn capital, N7.1bn recurrent). Budgets of that scale demand transparency and rapid, visible returns in roads, clinics, and sanitation — but citizens report inconsistency between budget promises and daily reality. Reported budget totals are a red flag if outcomes are absent.
Punchline: when a council’s budget sounds like a small bank’s, but the market toilets still leak, somebody’s math is tragic and theatrical.
4) Corruption and scandal at the LGA level: when leaders betray local trust
Local government leadership is not immune to scandal. A dramatic example: a newly elected chairman of Ogbaru LGA in Anambra State was arrested in the United States over allegations of a $3.3 million romance scam — an extraordinary blow to public trust and a concrete instance where an LGA leader’s conduct put the credibility of local governance on trial. When a chairman’s time is consumed by foreign arrests or controversy, who runs the ward? Who fixes the clinic? Who collects the trash?
5) Citizens are already calling them out — loudly
Across social media, radio call-ins, and local press, ordinary people and activists are naming and shaming poor performance: from residents streaming videos of fetid drains in Lagos to community groups demanding budget line-item accountability. Journalists and watchdogs have been publishing pieces that name failing systems and the LGAs closest to those failures. These are not isolated gripes — they form a pattern of broken service delivery, weak oversight, and political shielding.
What the evidence shows (short, sharp takeaways)
Money is not the only problem, but money without accountability is worse than no money: allocations are significant in many LGAs, but visible services are not matching the spend. Waste and public health are recurring failures in major cities like Lagos — when sanitation collapses, disease follows. Leadership matters: scandals and arrests at the LGA level destroy confidence and distract from governance. Citizens are waking up and using cameras, radio, and social media to document failures — which is the lifeline for accountability.
Real-life examples (short dossiers your readers can share)
Ogbaru LGA (Anambra) — Chairman arrested abroad. The arrest of an Ogbaru chairman on alleged fraud charges in the U.S. in 2024 became international news and raised urgent questions about screening, vetting, and oversight for those who run our local councils. When leaders are disgraced, projects stall and communities lose faith.
Lagos LGAs (Alimosho, Ajeromi/Ifelodun, Kosofe — allocations vs failure to manage waste) — reporting shows these LGAs receiving sizeable allocations while residents still suffer from overflowing dumpsites and poor sanitation. The visual evidence — viral videos, neighborhood testimonies, and reporting — is damning when matched to the allocation data.
FCT — Bwari Area Council — presented a N22bn budget for 2024; such sums should translate into tangible, immediate services. Citizens should demand line-by-line accountability on how capital is spent and when projects will be completed.
Call-outs (public, verifiable, and constructive)
We are not naming-and-shaming for clicks. We are naming failure where the record and reporting back it up:
Lagos LGAs with large allocations but chronic sanitation failures — the allocation figures and landfill reports are public; residents deserve answers. Ogbaru (Anambra) — credibility has been damaged by the arrest of a senior local figure; investigations are justified. Any council with a large published budget and no published implementation schedule — they should show us the receipts, contractors, photos of completed work, and meeting minutes. Bwari’s N22bn budget is an example where citizens can demand to see implementation.
(Important legal note for editors: these callouts are based on public reporting and official budget figures. Don’t allege crimes beyond cited sources; stick to documented facts.)
Powerful, practical steps Story No Clear will take (and what we want citizens to do)
SNC will publish a verified LGA scoreboard — budget vs visible outcomes: roads, markets, waste, clinics. We’ll start with Lagos, FCT, Anambra and three more states, then expand nationally. (You can send tips/photos via our WhatsApp tipline.) We will request budgets and implementation schedules from each LGA and publish the responses (and non-responses). Transparency looks like dates, photos, and receipts. We will run “Show Us the Budget Board” challenges — ask markets and clinics to photograph the budget/contractor board, then we’ll verify. Winners (functional LGAs) get a positive spotlight; laggards get scrutiny. You, the reader, should: (a) take photos of public projects and post them with your LGA name and #StoryNoClear; (b) ask your councillors for monthly updates; (c) demand accessible, printed budget boards in markets/wards.
Closing — anger, then action
This is not a rant; it’s a roadmap and a summons. The problem is clear: local governments in many parts of Nigeria are not converting public money into public good. We have the receipts, the budgets, the viral videos, and the outrage. Now let’s turn outrage into pressure.
If LGAs are the engines of everyday life, many engines are idling with keys in the ignition. Time to honk loudly.
Share this piece. Send us proof. Tag your LGA. Let the people who collect our levies know that we are watching — and that we expect results.
— Story No Clear (SNC)
Tipline: [WhatsApp number: 08076849735] • Send: photo, exact LGA, short note, and any receipts or board photos.