Civil Society Group Raises Governance Concerns, Calls for Transparency, LG Reform

A civil society organisation, the Lygel Youths & Leadership Initiative, has urged the Ogun State Government to address a series of governance gaps that it says affect local government administration, public procurement transparency, healthcare delivery, and development in border towns across the state. The organisation’s Executive Director, Lekan Oladapo, made the appeal during a press briefing in Abeokuta, calling on Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration to tackle what he described as “foundational governance deficits” before the end of the current term.

The core of the group’s concerns centres on how statutory allocations are administered to Ogun State’s 20 local government areas (LGAs). Oladapo cited a 2023 petition by then‑Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Hon. Wale Adedayo, who alleged that federal allocations and ecological funds earmarked for local governments were being withheld by the state government. The state denied the allegations at the time. The group argues that observable conditions across LGAs—such as councils’ inability to carry out routine functions like road grading and primary healthcare centre maintenance without state executive intervention—indicate that LGAs are operating with severely constrained resources.

“The Supreme Court has been clear on the financial autonomy of local governments,” Oladapo said. “What we are seeing on the ground in Ogun State raises genuine questions about compliance with that ruling.” The Federal Government, under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has made local government financial independence a stated policy priority, and the group believes Ogun State’s situation runs counter to that national direction.

The group also raised concerns about limited public access to information on state procurement processes. Referring to an April 2026 Freedom of Information request filed by the civil society group Right Thinkers Global Initiative (Eagleping) for details on a ₦1.39 billion New Ogun State House of Assembly Complex project, Lygel Youths & Leadership Initiative questioned why basic procurement information—including contractor identities, project scope, and funding structures—was not proactively made available to the public. “Public procurement should be transparent by default, not by litigation,” Oladapo said, calling on the state government to establish and maintain a publicly accessible procurement portal.

The group highlighted what it described as a missed economic opportunity in Ogun State’s border communities with Lagos State. It noted that communities such as Akute, Denro, and Ishasi, as well as the Agbara‑Atan‑Lusada industrial corridor, which hosts a significant concentration of manufacturing facilities, have experienced prolonged infrastructure deficits. The group argued that the state lacks a coherent development strategy for its border towns. While federal infrastructure projects, including work related to the Sokoto‑Badagry corridor, began to address some access issues in late 2025 and into 2026, the state’s own strategic contribution to border town development has been inadequate. “Ogun’s proximity to Lagos is its single greatest economic asset,” Oladapo said. “The absence of a Border Town Development Plan means that investment that should be landing in Ogun is going elsewhere.”

On healthcare, the group challenged the administration to name a single major public hospital constructed from the ground up during its tenure, noting that most health infrastructure activity in the state had been limited to renovations of existing facilities. The group cited a late‑2023 government disclosure indicating that approximately 42 of the state’s 530-plus Primary Healthcare Centres had been renovated, a figure it said represented less than 10 percent of the total. It linked the broader PHC funding challenge directly to the local government allocation issue, noting that primary healthcare is constitutionally the responsibility of local government councils, which have been unable to fund routine maintenance due to constrained allocations. General Hospitals, the direct responsibility of the state government, faced challenges including understaffing and a lack of modern diagnostic equipment.

Lygel Youths & Leadership Initiative concluded its statement by calling on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission to make public any findings from investigations into allegations of diverted local government funds and procurement irregularities in the state. “We are not making accusations,” Oladapo said. “We are asking that the relevant agencies, if they have conducted or are conducting investigations into matters of public concern in Ogun State, share their findings with Nigerians. Transparency is not optional in a democracy.”