A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Monday Ubani, has alleged that the persistent hardship in Nigeria’s rural communities is largely caused by the diversion and withholding of local government funds by state governments.
Ubani made the allegation during an interview on Frontline, a current affairs programme aired on Eagle 102.5 FM, where he argued that the suffering at the grassroots level is not accidental but the result of systemic interference with statutory allocations meant for local councils.
According to the former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Section on Public Interest and Development Law, local governments are constitutionally entitled to direct funding, but the principle has been consistently undermined in practice.
He maintained that the withholding or diversion of funds allocated to local governments has made meaningful development at the community level almost impossible.
“The suffering experienced in rural communities across Nigeria is not accidental but linked to systemic interference with local government funds,” Ubani said.
The senior lawyer linked the situation to what he described as a breakdown in fiscal responsibility among the different tiers of government, noting that the consequences are most visible in rural areas where basic infrastructure remains inadequate or completely absent.
“If the state governors are releasing the money meant for local governments, Nigeria would be a beautiful country,” he stated.
Ubani said the failure of governance at the grassroots has forced many residents of rural communities to migrate to urban centres in search of better living conditions and opportunities.
He stressed that local governments are constitutionally designed to be the closest tier of government to the people and should therefore play a critical role in delivering development and public services.
According to him, this role has been weakened by what he described as the financial strangulation of local councils through excessive state-level control of their allocations.
Ubani further alleged that funds meant for local governments are often retained or managed by state governments, thereby undermining service delivery in key sectors such as healthcare, education and rural infrastructure.
He argued that the absence of genuine local government autonomy has created a governance vacuum at the grassroots, worsening poverty and underdevelopment in many communities across the country.
“What Nigerians require is just good roads and light, especially in the rural areas,” he said.
The SAN noted that local governments would be in a better position to provide such basic amenities if they were allowed to access and utilise their allocations independently.
Ubani also criticised what he termed misplaced governance priorities, arguing that governments should focus more on rural electrification and road connectivity instead of concentrating resources on large-scale projects with limited grassroots impact.
He maintained that development would be more effective if state governments allowed local councils to function independently and discharge their constitutional responsibilities without interference.
According to him, decentralised development remains essential to reducing inequality between urban and rural communities.
Ubani also pointed to the broader economic implications of weak local governance structures, insisting that Nigeria’s economic hardship is compounded when grassroots development is neglected.
“There is so much money being allocated, but the local governments are not getting it,” he alleged.
He argued that proper disbursement of local government allocations would stimulate rural economies, improve living standards and reduce the pressure of migration to major cities.
The senior lawyer further claimed that state control of local government funds has distorted governance priorities and encouraged dependency and inefficiency at the grassroots level.
He added that the challenge reflects wider governance failures in the country, particularly in the areas of accountability and transparency in public finance management.
Ubani maintained that strengthening local government autonomy would significantly improve service delivery and grassroots development across Nigeria.
He argued that the country’s development challenges are not caused by a lack of resources but by poor management and misallocation of available funds.
“Nigerians are not lazy,” he said, adding that citizens only require enabling infrastructure and functional governance structures to thrive economically.
Ubani concluded that unless local government funds are properly utilised for grassroots development, Nigeria’s broader development aspirations would remain difficult to achieve.
He reaffirmed that addressing fiscal mismanagement and ensuring genuine autonomy for local governments are crucial steps toward reversing rural hardship and achieving balanced national development.
