President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is set to establish a central transparency portal that will enable Nigerians to track allocations, budgets, development plans and audited accounts of the country’s 774 local government areas.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, disclosed this while presenting the Federal Government’s assessment of “Nigeria’s Reforms Scorecard: Benefits, Costs and Harms Prevented” in Abuja.
Oyedele said the proposed portal was designed to strengthen transparency and accountability in the management of resources allocated to states and local governments.
According to him, citizens would be able to select any local government on the platform and access information on its development plan, annual budget and audited accounts.
He said the initiative was particularly important given the significant increase in revenue accruing to sub-national governments following the removal of the petrol subsidy and foreign exchange reforms.
The Federal Ministry of Finance reported that the three tiers of government shared N2.036 trillion from the Federation Account in March 2026, with states receiving N657.596 billion and local governments N468.826 billion.
By June, the total amount distributed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee had risen to N2.551 trillion, comprising N838.208 billion for states and N591.390 billion for local governments.
Oyedele said the increased flow of resources would only translate into improved living conditions if Nigerians could monitor how the funds were being deployed.
“This is where people feel the impact of government the most,” the minister said.
He stressed that the proposed platform was not intended to give the Federal Government control over the finances of states and local governments, noting that Nigeria’s federal structure gives the different tiers of government authority over their statutory revenues.
Rather, he said, the portal would provide citizens with access to reliable information on how public resources are being deployed.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government was encouraging states to adopt similar transparency mechanisms, adding that discussions had already commenced with state governments, with some expressing willingness to develop comparable systems for reporting their finances and expenditure.
When operational, the portal is expected to provide a consolidated picture of public finances across the 774 local government areas, including resources available to them, projects contained in their budgets and the level of implementation.
Oyedele said reforms implemented by the Federal Government generated N15.8 trillion in additional resources for the Federation between June 2023 and December 2025.
Of this amount, N10.4 trillion accrued to states and local governments, while the Federal Government received N5.4 trillion.
He, however, acknowledged that the Federal Government could not independently determine whether states and local governments were using the additional funds effectively.
The minister said greater accountability would ultimately depend on citizens having access to information that would enable them to assess the performance of their governments.
The proposed transparency portal could therefore shift public attention from simply monitoring monthly allocations to determining what governments actually deliver with the resources they receive.
The initiative comes amid growing calls for greater fiscal transparency and accountability at the sub-national level as allocations to states and local governments continue to rise.
