The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has disclosed a startling transparency crisis across Nigeria’s local government system, revealing that only seven out of the nation’s 774 Local Government Areas maintain functional websites.
ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu made this revelation during a television appearance, emphasising that this deficiency creates significant challenges for accountability and public oversight of local government activities and expenditures.
According to Aliyu, the absence of functional websites spans all six geopolitical zones, preventing citizens from accessing critical information about local government operations, financial spending, and development projects.
This lack of transparency directly contradicts principles of good governance and makes it difficult for both oversight agencies and the public to monitor how resources are being utilised at the grassroots level.
The ICPC chairman noted that this opacity enables corruption, citing examples where public officials diverted community resources for personal use, such as installing street lights meant for public spaces at their private residences.
The disclosure comes one year after the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment granting financial autonomy to local governments, a ruling that the current administration has yet to fully implement.
State governments continue to maintain control over local government finances, despite the constitutional responsibilities assigned to local administrations, which include providing primary education, healthcare centres, markets, and essential infrastructure.
In response to these challenges, the ICPC has initiated a corruption prevention program focused on five key areas: open fiscal transparency, open procurement processes, corruption control, human resource management, and citizen engagement.
The program specifically advocates for each local government to establish a functional website to publish information about their activities and expenditures, creating essential transparency that would enable citizens to hold their local representatives accountable and help combat corruption at the grassroots level.
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cc: Daily Trust NG
