Good governance advocate, Charles Ogbu, has alleged that a total of about N885 billion allocated to local government areas in the South-East ended up in the hands of state governors.
Ogbu, in a post on Facebook on Monday, cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, OAGF, and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI.
According to him, between March 2022 and September 2025, Anambra’s 21 LGAs received about N225.8 billion under Governor Charles Soludo, while Enugu’s 17 LGAs got N150.5 billion within 28 months of Governor Peter Mbah’s administration.
He added that Ebonyi’s 13 LGAs received N48.7 billion from June 2023 to September 2025 under Governor Francis Nwifuru, while Imo’s 27 LGAs got about N330 billion between January 2020 and September 2025 under Governor Hope Uzodimma.
For Abia, Ogbu stated that the 17 LGAs received about N130.2 billion over 28 months of Governor Alex Otti’s tenure.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling granting financial autonomy to local governments, Ogbu claimed that governors still maintain control of the funds.
He queried the lack of visible development in rural communities, noting poor access to healthcare, water, and road infrastructure.
Ogbu urged Ndigbo to hold leaders accountable, stressing that proper use of federal allocations could have transformed the region.
“Even after Bola Ahmed Tinubu secured local govt financial autonomy ruling from the Supreme Court, state governors all over the country are still controlling local govt allocation.
“Go to your villages located in the local govt and tell me if you see any sign of development? You that is reading me, if your aged parent were to have medical issue now, is there anywhere in your village or community where they can access QUALITY PRIMARY health care??? How many of you have tarred road in your village? Let’s even forget about water for now. Or are we saying that over 800 billion received under this present governors (let’s not even calculate the ones received between 1999 to date because your head fit burst) is not enough to change the face of our respective villages and communities?
“When I talk of the need for us – Ndigbo – to pay more attention to the people managing our affairs at the homefront, I say so because I am convinced that if all the federal allocations that have come to our region from the centre (let’s not even talk of IGR and the huge debts they’ve all burdened us with) have been used for the good of our region and people, AlaIgbo will not be where it is today.
“Yes, the Nigerian state has not been fair to us but what of our own people we trusted to manage our affairs? Do they not deserve more scrutiny?,” parts of the post read.
