Civil society organisations and residents in Lagos Island have called for greater citizen participation in local governance after budget data showed that the local government plans to spend ₦16.62 billion in 2026 despite generating only ₦638 million internally.

The figures were presented at a civic engagement meeting organised under the Coalition of Participatory Governance (CPG), where residents, development partners and advocacy groups pressed the Lagos Island Local Government Area (LGA) to open governance processes to citizens and strengthen accountability at the grassroots.

The meeting, themed “Participatory Governance: A Critical Tool for Inclusivity, Peace and Development,” brought together ward residents, market associations, youth representatives, faith leaders, traditional rulers, private sector actors and diaspora groups.

The coalition includes the Centre for Fiscal Transparency and Integrity Watch, Lagos Civil Society Participation for Development (LACSOP), Nigeria Diaspora Coalition for Change, Enough is Enough (EiE), BudgIT, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Lagos Island Connect (LIC), To Build A Nation (TBAN), and the 50-50 Initiative for a Better Nigeria, among others.

Presenting an analysis of the council’s 2026 fiscal plan, the Head of the Tracker Department at BudgIT, Joshua Oshiyemi, said Lagos Island LGA expects ₦6.51 billion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), ₦9.31 billion from Value Added Tax (VAT) receipts and ₦150 million from state-redistributed revenue while its internally generated revenue (IGR) stands at ₦638 million.

Mr Oshiyemi said the disparity should encourage residents to scrutinise how local government funds are generated and spent.

On the expenditure side, he said the council budgeted ₦1.20 billion for staff salaries, ₦1.22 billion for teachers’ salaries and ₦400 million for pensions, while operating expenses stand at ₦6.71 billion. Political office holders are also projected to receive more than ₦150 million in allowances.

Comparing revenue performance across years, Mr Oshiyemi said the local government generated ₦13.82 billion in total revenue in 2025, up from ₦3.97 billion in 2024. He added that the council’s IGR for 2025 stood at ₦338 million, sourced from fines, levies and local duties.

“If you don’t know what they say they are going to do, you cannot hold them accountable for not doing it. So it is important for all of us to get hold of our local government budgets, analyse them and find out which areas are priorities,” he said.

He added that Lagos Island has 20 wards and is therefore entitled to 20 councillors, urging residents to know their councillors by name and engage them directly on local issues.

‘We are the landlords’

The President of Lagos Island Connect (LIC), Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, said elected officials only occupy office temporarily while residents remain the enduring stakeholders in the community.

“Everybody that is in government is a tenant. They come and go. Four years, eight years, they have to move on. We are the owners of the land, so this is a movement to ensure that we play our responsible part in ensuring that we partner with them,” she said.

Ms Ransome-Kuti said effective participation requires citizens to understand the responsibilities of local government and engage authorities from an informed position.

According to her, complaints about poor roads, failing primary healthcare centres and underperforming schools would be more effective if residents clearly understood which tier of government was responsible.

She also introduced what she described as a “two-kilometre rule”, encouraging residents and businesses to deliberately patronise goods and services within their communities to strengthen the local economy.

“If you are ordering online from Nike and whoever, that is not the Nigerian stuff. So we want all of us to invest and create jobs here by ensuring that within your local government, you are also contributing to your economy,” she said.

She urged participants to sign up for follow-up activities after the meeting, warning that civic engagements often end without sustained action.

Governance starts at the ward

In his opening remarks, the President of the Africa Leadership Group and founder of TriAfrica Empowerment Foundation, Ituah Ighodalo, said participatory governance was central to nation-building and not a foreign concept.

He said the disconnect between Nigeria’s resources and living conditions reflects years of governance that excluded ordinary citizens from decision-making.

“Market women in Lagos Island know better than anyone which drainages flood during the rains and which markets need better security at night. The artisans and young entrepreneurs in these communities understand the real bottlenecks to job creation. The mothers fetching water or queuing at health centres can tell us exactly why primary healthcare is failing,” he said.

Mr Ighodalo added that idle youths in communities should be seen as evidence of systemic failure rather than as the problem itself.

He urged the Lagos Island council leadership to see the engagement as the beginning of a stronger relationship between government and residents.

Accountability gap between states and LGAs

The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Climate Change and Circular Economy, Titilayo Oshodi, acknowledged longstanding tensions between state oversight and local government autonomy, saying council chairpersons have often used state interference as justification for poor performance.

She said Lagos State has accountability structures, including the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Community Affairs and an economic intelligence unit, but noted that those mechanisms work better when citizens understand the figures and processes involved.

“When we want to make noise, it must be informed noise. At the point where we begin to call for accountability from the government, from a local government level, once the government begins to see that people are in the know of what is available for them, believe me, they will begin to comply,” she said.

Ms Oshodi also urged young people to channel innovation and technology into governance, agriculture, education and sustainable development, rather than limiting such energy to entertainment sectors.

She further pointed to the presence of Eurocham, which represents dozens of European companies, as an opportunity for local governments to attract support through environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments.

Idle public infrastructure

A components manager with GIZ, the German Agency for International Cooperation, Ayomikun Olugbode, said public infrastructure at the local government level often remains underutilised despite huge investments.

He cited the example of a Lagos council that received 300 computers for an ICT centre but failed to fully utilise the facility until GIZ partnered with the local government.

“Through our collaboration, we were the first to use that facility. The chairman was passing out a month to the training, he was so happy on the graduation day because he said, if not for this kind of collaboration, maybe we would have just opened this facility and left it on the ground,” he said.

Mr Olugbode said GIZ now works with 13 local governments across Lagos State by helping them activate existing infrastructure instead of building entirely new facilities.

Consumer protection and citizen action

A representative of the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency (LASCOPA), Aziza Akpata, said the agency handles complaints relating to banking services, electricity billing and defective products.

She said the agency had resolved cases involving unauthorised bank deductions and disputes with electricity distribution companies over estimated billing and disconnections.

Speakers at the meeting repeatedly stressed that poor governance persists partly because citizens are not sufficiently organised to demand accountability.

Mr Oshiyemi urged residents to engage through Community Development Associations (CDAs), while Ms Ransome-Kuti encouraged professionals to support their communities through pro bono legal services, healthcare support and local employment opportunities.

The coalition said the meeting marked the beginning of a sustained campaign to institutionalise participatory governance in Lagos Island through town hall meetings, participatory budgeting, project monitoring committees, digital feedback platforms and accountability forums.