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A civil society organisation (CSO) that monitors the spending and allocations of government agencies, BudgIT, has revealed that only 10 states publish accessible local government agency (LGA) budget data, while six states share partial or outdated information, and 18 others publish nothing.
BudgIT, in a report titled The Missing Tier: Mapping Local Government Budget Transparency in Nigeria, highlighted disparities across states, ranging from full disclosure to partial or no publication, and underscored how limited visibility into LGA budgets weakens accountability.
🗣️ Dear Nigerians,
This is a very important conversation. We checked all 774 Local Governments in Nigeria to see if their budgets are public. For many of them, we found NOTHING. The government closest to us has become the hardest to see.
Only 10 states publish accessible LGA… https://t.co/wjjS8EdE19
— BudgIT Nigeria (@BudgITng) March 22, 2026
In Nigeria, the LGA, the third tier of government, is after the federal and state governments. Nigeria has 774 LGAs across its 36 states.
The LGA is responsible for grassroots development and is charged with bringing government closer to the people, especially in rural and underserved communities.
But while the budgets of the state and the Nigerian Government at the federal level are accessible, those of many LGAs remain inaccessible, posing an obstacle to citizens holding local government leaders accountable.
“Local government budgets are being written, debated and funded across Nigeria. What is missing in most states is not the document itself, but public access to it. Since state governments already publish their own budgets online, extending the same standard to local councils is neither complex nor costly; it is a matter of institutional choice,” the CSO noted.
BudgIT conducted a nationwide online search, including a systematic review of official state government websites and related public portals to identify which states publish local government budget documents in accessible formats and which do not.
Its findings revealed that a few states have built credible LGA transparency systems, while the majority remain digitally silent.
BudgIT findings revealed that Ekiti State publishes individual 2026 budgets for all 16 LGAs and 22 LCDAs, with each entity accompanied by a signed PDF, town hall consultation minutes, and NCOA-formatted Excel template, which makes it stand out among other states in LGA fiscal transparency.
Cross River State comes next after Ekiti State. According to BudgIT, Cross River State published individual 2025 budgets, 2024 audited accounts and quarterly Budget Performance Reports for all councils.
Behind Ekiti and Cross River states is Borno State, which provides a consolidated 2025 budget, individual council ZIP files and 2024 audited financial statements.
BudgIT identified Ebonyi, Osun, Kebbi, and Kogi as states which published budgets but have no accessible audits or performance reports, while Enugu published a consolidated budget, Kaduna published a medium-term consolidated LG council budget, and Yobe published a consolidated 2025 LGA budget.
Six states, including Kano, Imo, Anambra, Ondo and Ogun, provide incomplete or outdated LGA budget data.
For Kano, BudgIT noted that the state publishes Q1 2025 Budget Performance Reports and maintains an LG
Audit portal, but no full-year approved council budgets were found. It also revealed that Imo State has no published LGA budget, though a 2024 Accountant-General LGA Financial Statement is available.
According to BudgIT, Anambra State, with 21 LGAs, publishes the 2026 LGA appropriation law without detailed line-item budgets, while Ondo State, with 18 LGAs, provides documents for only 14 LGAs, and Ogun State hosts only the 2024 LGA data.
BudgIT found no accessible LGA budget for Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa and Katsina states.
It also found no accessible LGA data for Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states.
It added that transparency is possible at every tier of government.
