Economy
BudgIT Raises Alarm Over Poor Transparency in Nigeria’s Local Government Budgets
By Adedapo Adesanya
Governance transparency platform, BudgIT, has expressed worry that only 10 states provided publicly accessible budget information for their Local Government Areas (LGAs).
The report, titled The Missing Tier: Mapping Local Government Budget Transparency in Nigeria, found that while six states offer partial or outdated disclosures, as many as 18 states do not publish any LGA budget data at all.
Despite the existence of these budgets at council secretariats nationwide, BudgIT noted that access remains largely restricted, particularly online.
“For most of Nigeria’s 774 local governments, those budgets are not publicly accessible online,” the report stated.
Among the states assessed, Ekiti emerged as the top performer, with a comprehensive system that includes detailed, up-to-date budget documentation for its councils.
Other states identified as making LGA budget information available include Ebonyi, Osun, Kebbi, Kogi, Enugu, Kaduna and Yobe.
However, the report cautioned that even among these states, data quality remains inconsistent, with several budgets either incomplete, outdated, or poorly structured.
BudgIT highlighted notable examples of improved accountability practices.
Ekiti State, for instance, publishes individual 2026 budgets for all its LGAs and LCDAs, accompanied by signed documents, consultation records, and standardised financial templates.
Cross River State also stood out for releasing individual council budgets, audited accounts, and quarterly performance reports.
Similarly, Borno State was commended for maintaining a consolidated 2025 budget alongside supporting financial documents, suggesting a structured and functional reporting system.
The report identified six states with limited transparency, providing only fragmented or outdated information.
Kano State, for example, publishes quarterly performance reports but lacks full-year approved budgets.
In Imo State, no LGA budgets were found, although a financial statement from the Accountant-General was available.
Ondo State reportedly released documents for only a portion of its LGAs, while Anambra published an appropriation law without detailed breakdowns. Ogun State, meanwhile, only provided data for 2024.
BudgIT further disclosed that a large number of states fail entirely to make LGA budgets public.
These include Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara.
According to the organisation, the issue is not the absence of budget documents but the lack of public access to them.
“Yet for most of Nigeria’s 774 local governments, those budgets are not publicly accessible online,” the civic tech firm said.
BudgIT stressed that improving transparency at the local government level does not require complex reforms but rather a deliberate policy decision.
“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 organisation said.
It added, “This choice is a critical one; Nigeria’s post-1999 experience with democracy has not had Local Governments with significant autonomy. Be that as it may, LGAs still have the opportunity to make public what they budget, what they spend and what they earn.”
Highlighting the benefits of openness, the report noted that transparency enables citizens to track public spending and hold officials accountable.
“Where they are withheld, accountability stops at the state level, leaving the tier closest to citizens financially opaque,” BudgIT said.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira further appreciated against the United States Dollar by N5.68 or 0.41 per cent to N1,369.63/$1 on Wednesday, July 22, from the preceding session’s N1,375.31/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX).
Similarly, the Nigerian currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.01 to trade at N1,833.12/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,841.13/£1, and against the Euro, it gained N4.75 to sell at N1,563.03/€1, in contrast to Tuesday’s closing price of N1,567.78/€1.
In the same vein, the Naira strengthened its rate against the US Dollar in the black market yesterday by N5 to quote at N1,400/$1 compared with the N1,405/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank FX desk, it chalked up N5 against the greenback to settle at N1,383/$1 versus N1,388/$1.
FX liquidity was boosted by inflows from foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporates. The significant liquidity and strong investor sentiment aided the naira recovery from the recent slump.
As a result, total turnover settled at $416.420 million on Wednesday, up by 29 per cent from $322.664 million recorded the previous day.
The number of deals counted at the NAFEM window also increased to 198 from 110 on Tuesday, signalling higher demand for foreign payments matched adequate FX inflows.
With more than $52 billion in gross external reserves, analysts said the FX market is expected to remain stable in the near term.
As for the digital currency market, Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 0.4 per cent to $65,658.75 as rising oil prices and higher Treasury yields pressured risk assets and weighed on major cryptocurrencies, which later saw some recovery.
Market sentiment was further dampened by an apparent escalation in US military strikes linked to Iran, while traders also looked at regulatory uncertainty as key US Senate Democrats criticised the latest draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which is designed to define and separate regulatory oversight for cryptocurrency, stablecoins, and digital commodities.
Dogecoin (DOGE) crashed by 0.1 per cent to $0.0724, and TRON (TRX) dropped 0.01 per cent to trade at $0.3287, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 each.
However, Cardano (ADA) rose by 1.6 per cent to $0.1741, Ethereum (ETH) gained 0.2 per cent to close at $1,921.85, Binance Coin (BNB) also grew by 0.2 per cent to $569.38, Ripple (XRP) increased by 0.1 per cent to $1.13, and Solana (SOL) soared by 0.02 per cent to $77.50.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices jumped 3 per cent on Wednesday as mounting supply concerns following escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran, while threats to shipping by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen further boosted prices.
Brent crude futures went up by $3.06 or 3.36 per cent to $94.07 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed $2.49 or 2.95 per cent to $86.83 a barrel.
The US military said it carried out an 11th consecutive night of attacks on Iran. The US attacks came a short while after the Kuwaiti army said its air defences were intercepting Iranian drones.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the US would “bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant” any time Iran targets a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ spokesperson warned shipping companies that the Strait of Hormuz southern route is mined.
As well as the renewed conflict over control of that key waterway, the Iran-aligned Houthis have opened a new front in the war by threatening to target vessels carrying Saudi oil in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.
Bab el-Mandeb at the southern entrance to the Red Sea has become an increasingly important route for Saudi Arabian crude exports as traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen sharply again since a ceasefire between the US and Iran collapsed earlier this month.
Five tankers in the Red Sea avoided the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Wednesday after the Houthis’ threat to block Saudi oil exports.
The European Union’s naval force Aspides said on Wednesday that ships with links to Israel, the US or Saudi Arabia are at a higher risk of being attacked by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia and are advised to avoid voyages through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Crude oil inventories in the US saw an increase of 2.0 million barrels during the week ending July 17, according to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) released on Wednesday.
It follows figures by the American Petroleum Institute (API) that were released a day earlier, which reported that crude oil inventories had risen by 2.603 million barrels in the period.
The increase brings commercial stockpiles to 411.7 million barrels, according to government data, which are now 6 per cent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Meanwhile, European Union (EU) ambassadors failed on Wednesday to agree on a 21st package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Debt Management Office (DMO) on Monday allotted bonds worth N929.3 billion to investors from the N1.7 trillion bids it received from subscribers.
The exercise, which took place on Monday, July 20, 2026, was oversubscribed by market participants, reflecting the confidence investors have in the government’s ability to redeem the debt instrument on maturity.
On offer for sale for the July auction was N1.2 trillion worth of the FGN bonds, but the DMO allotted below this, despite receiving bids above the offer.
The papers were offered in 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year tenors, at N400 billion each.
For the decade-old note, investors staked N444.47 billion, but the debt office sold N245.73 billion at an 18.34 per cent coupon rate. For the one and a half-decade-old paper, bids valued at N518.00 billion were received by the DMO, with a non-competitive bid of N50.00 billion, with N302.13 billion allotted to investors at 18.40 per cent, and for the two-decade paper, the DMO got competitive bids of N665.19 billion and N381.46 billion was sold to bondholders at 18.35 per cent.
