Edo State: Countdown to November 12… Local Govt. Administrators Face Performance Test

By Editorial Board

As Edo State counts down to November 12, the second anniversary of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration, attention is naturally turning to the achievements of the government since it assumed office.

But there is another, equally important story that deserves attention — and this time, the spotlight should not primarily be on the Governor.

It should be on the 18 local government councils and the administrators that were entrusted with running them by the present administration.

For too long, the performance of local governments in Nigeria has been discussed as though everything that happens at the grassroots is the responsibility of the state governor. That approach is neither fair nor consistent with the constitutional position of local government as a distinct tier of government.

If the councils receive allocations, they must account for them. If they have administrative responsibilities, they must be judged by their performance. If they have authority to execute projects, provide basic services and respond to community needs, they must demonstrate what they have done.

That is the real challenge confronting the 18 local government administrators in Edo State as the November 12 anniversary approaches.
The question should no longer simply be: “What has Governor Okpebholo done for the local governments?”

The more appropriate question is: “What have the local government administrators done for the people with the resources and responsibilities entrusted to them?”

That distinction is important.

The Governor can construct a major road, renovate a hospital, build schools or execute other state-wide projects. But there are thousands of smaller needs scattered across Edo’s 18 local government areas that cannot reasonably be handled from Government House.

Those are the responsibilities that make local government important.

A broken drainage channel in a community, a dilapidated market, a rural access road, poor sanitation, a neglected motor park, a community health centre requiring basic rehabilitation, streetlights, waste disposal, small bridges and culverts, water projects, support for primary education, youth and women empowerment programmes.

These are precisely the areas where a functional local government should make itself visible.

Unfortunately, across many communities in Edo, the local government remains largely invisible.

For example, Oredo that is the showplace of the state has become an unsightly scene of filthy streets and blocked drainages. And when the council manages to maintain potholes on any road, the repair work fails overnight leaving the road worse than when Oredo council contractors worked on it.

Sadly, Oredo is finding it difficult to grade earth roads leading to various communities within the urban area.

The grader and other earth moving equipment shared to the 18 council have disappeared without significant improvement on earth roads across the local government areas.

The renewed national debate over local government financial autonomy has changed the equation.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has consistently argued that Nigerians must be able to feel the benefits of democracy at the grassroots. His administration has pushed the issue of local government autonomy as part of a broader effort to ensure that councils can function effectively and deliver services directly to their communities.

The Federal Government’s monthly Federation Account figures demonstrate the scale of resources involved. In June 2026, for instance, the three tiers shared ₦2.551 trillion, with local government councils receiving ₦591.390 billion.

That is not insignificant money.

It is therefore reasonable for citizens to ask what their councils are doing with their share.
Autonomy cannot simply mean that local government officials receive money without answering questions about how it is spent.

Autonomy must be accompanied by responsibility. And responsibility must be accompanied by accountability.

President Tinubu’s argument goes beyond local government chairmen.

He has repeatedly urged governors to allow local governments to function and ensure that Nigerians at the grassroots benefit from the economic reforms and interventions of his administration.

The President has also challenged Nigerians to hold their governors accountable, pointing to the dramatic increase in revenue available to states under his administration.

His argument is straightforward: with substantially higher Federation Account revenues now flowing to states, citizens should expect more visible development.

That argument should equally apply at the local government level.

If the councils are receiving significantly more money than before, their administrators must be prepared to explain what has changed in their respective communities.

There can be no better test of local government autonomy than visible development.

Lagos provides an instructive example for Edo State to follow. Recently, the Lagos State House of Assembly began comprehensive oversight of projects across the state’s 57 local government areas and Local Council Development Areas in June 2026. The exercise was designed to inspect projects and assess what the councils were doing with their responsibilities and resources.

That is how local government should operate.
There should be projects. There should be records. There should be inspections. There should be public scrutiny. And there should be consequences where performance falls below expectation.

Individual councils in Lagos have also demonstrated that grassroots administration can produce tangible interventions.

The lesson for Edo is not that Lagos has solved all its local-government problems. It clearly has not.

The lesson is that local governments can be made visible institutions whose performance can be measured.

Delta State provides another useful comparison. The state government has said it implemented local government financial autonomy following the Supreme Court’s judgment, releasing funds due to councils and enabling them to undertake projects within their constitutional responsibilities.

According to the Delta government, the increased financial capacity of councils has enabled them to execute road projects and strengthen their delivery of primary healthcare and other grassroots services.

Whether one agrees with every claim made by the Delta government or not, the underlying principle is important—give the council responsibility, give it resources, and demand results. That is precisely the formula Edo should embrace.

Akwa Ibom offers another interesting model. The state has deliberately spread development across its 31 local government areas, with its development programmes including roads, primary healthcare facilities, schools and other infrastructure.

The significance is not merely the size of the state budget. It is the attempt to make development geographically visible.

A resident should be able to identify what government has done in his or her local government. That principle should be applicable in Edo.

Across Nigeria, the conversation about local government is increasingly moving from who controls the money to what happens to the money. The message is becoming clearer—Local government must stop being a political appendage and become a development institution.

This is where the 18 local government administrators in Edo must answer some uncomfortable questions.

They should tell Edo people:
How much has your council received?
How much was internally generated?
How much was spent on personnel?
How much was spent on administration?
How much was spent on capital projects?
How many roads were constructed or rehabilitated?
How many drainage systems were cleared or constructed?
How many primary healthcare centres were renovated?
How many schools received council intervention?
How many markets were rehabilitated?
How much was spent on sanitation?
How many communities benefited from water projects?
How many youths and women benefited from empowerment programmes?
What projects are currently ongoing?
What projects have been abandoned?

And perhaps the most important question:
Can the people of the local government identify tangible improvements in their communities?

These are not political questions. They are accountability questions.

As part of the countdown to November 12 anniversary of Governor Okpebholo, each of the 18 local government administrators should be challenged to publish a Stewardship Report covering the period under review.

It should not be a public-relations brochure.
It should not be a collection of photographs of political meetings.
It should not be a catalogue of promises.
It should be a document containing figures, projects, locations, costs, contractors, timelines and evidence of completion.

The report should show total allocation received, internally generated revenue, personnel expenditure, recurrent expenditure, capital expenditure, completed projects, ongoing projects, abandoned projects, outstanding liabilities, community development initiatives, healthcare interventions, education interventions, roads and drainage projects, environmental and sanitation activities, youth and women empowerment programmes, and procurement and contract information.

That would give citizens something concrete with which to assess the administrators.

This is where the debate about Edo’s local governments needs to be intellectually honest.
Governor Okpebholo should certainly be held accountable for matters within his constitutional and political responsibility.

But he should not become the convenient explanation for every failure at the local-government level.

A council chairman cannot blame the governor for every pothole in his council.

A local government administrator cannot blame Government House for poor sanitation if environmental responsibilities fall within the council’s jurisdiction.

A council that receives resources cannot simply wait indefinitely for the state government before doing basic things that are within its competence.

The proper approach is to distinguish responsibilities.

Governor Okpebholo should answer for the performance of the state government on November 12.

The 18 local government administrators should answer for the performance of their councils.

And where responsibilities overlap, the public should be told exactly where the responsibility lies.

That is how mature governance works.

The second anniversary of the Okpebholo administration presents an opportunity to establish a new tradition in Edo politics.

Instead of allowing November 12 to become another political anniversary dominated by speeches, photographs and praise-singing, the state can make it a day of public accountability at every level of government.

Let the state government present its scorecard.

Let the 18 councils present theirs.
Let the figures be published.
Let civil society examine them.
Let journalists investigate them.
Let communities verify the projects.
Let opposition parties scrutinise them.

And let the people judge. If an administrator has performed exceptionally, he should be commended.

If another has performed poorly, he should explain why.

If there are allegations of financial misconduct, the appropriate agencies should investigate.

If a council has genuinely lacked the resources to execute a particular project, that should also be documented.

But there should be no hiding place behind vague claims of “working for the people.”

The local government autonomy debate will mean little if it produces only a new generation of powerful chairmen who control large allocations without corresponding development.

The objective must be different.
Autonomy should mean—more money, more responsibility and more development.

But it should also mean—more transparency, more scrutiny and more accountability.

The Federal Government’s reforms have created an opportunity for local governments across Nigeria to become meaningful engines of grassroots development.

Edo should not waste that opportunity. Therefore, as November 12 approaches, the challenge to the 18 local government administrators in Edo is simple: Bring out your books.

Tell the people what you received.
Tell them what you spent.
Show them what you built.
Show them what you repaired.
Show them where you intervened.
Explain what you could not do.
Explain why you could not do it.
And allow the people to decide whether your council has worked.

That is the essence of democracy.
The people do not need another political speech.

They need evidence.
They need functioning councils.
They need clean communities.
They need accessible roads.
They need functioning primary healthcare.
They need better markets.
They need sanitation.
They need water.
They need development that can be seen, touched and experienced.

The countdown to November 12 should therefore be a countdown not only to the second anniversary of Governor Monday Okpebholo’s administration, but also to an accountability reckoning for the 18 local government councils.

For the Governor, the anniversary should be an opportunity to demonstrate that his administration has created an environment in which local governments can function—especially as he has openly demonstrated assistance to them.

For the administrators, it should be an opportunity to prove that they have used that opportunity responsibly.

And for Edo people, it should be an opportunity to ask the most important question of all:

“What has my local government done for me?”
That question — more than the speeches, slogans and anniversary celebrations — should determine whether Edo’s grassroots government is truly working.