A civil society organization, the Lygel Youths & Leadership Initiative, has urged the Ogun State Government to address what it describes as significant governance gaps affecting local government administration, public procurement transparency, healthcare delivery, and border town development across the state.
Call for Transparency and Reform
The group’s Executive Director, Lekan Oladapo, made the call during a press briefing in Abeokuta. He called on the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun to use its remaining tenure to tackle what he termed “foundational governance deficits” before the end of the current term.
Local Government Allocation Concerns
At the core of the group’s concerns is the management of statutory allocations to Ogun State’s 20 local government areas. Oladapo referenced a 2023 petition by the former Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Hon. Wale Adedayo, who alleged that federal allocations and ecological funds meant for local governments were being withheld by the state government. The state government denied these allegations at the time.
The civil society group argued that observable conditions across local government areas—such as the inability of councils to perform routine functions like road grading and primary healthcare center maintenance without state executive intervention—suggest that local governments continue to operate 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 the financial independence of local governments a policy priority. The group stated that the situation in Ogun State appears to contradict this national policy direction.
Procurement Transparency
The group also raised concerns about insufficient public access to information on state procurement processes. Citing an April 2026 Freedom of Information request filed by the civil society group Right Thinkers Global Initiative (Eagleping) seeking 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.
Border Town Development
The group drew attention to what it described as a missed economic opportunity in Ogun State’s border communities with Lagos State. 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.
The group acknowledged that federal infrastructure projects, including work related to the Sokoto-Badagry corridor, began addressing some access issues in late 2025 and into 2026, but said 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.”
Healthcare Infrastructure
On healthcare, the group challenged the administration to point to a single major public hospital constructed from the ground up during its tenure, stating that most health infrastructure activity in the state has been limited to renovation of existing facilities. The group cited figures from a late 2023 government disclosure indicating that approximately 42 of the state’s 530-plus Primary Healthcare Centres had been renovated—less than 10 per cent of the total.
The group linked the broader PHC funding challenge to the local government allocation question, noting that primary healthcare is constitutionally the responsibility of local government councils, which it argued have been unable to fund routine maintenance due to constrained allocations. General Hospitals, the direct responsibility of the state government, face challenges including understaffing and a lack of modern diagnostic equipment.
Call for Anti-Corruption Agencies
Lygel Youths & Leadership Initiative concluded 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.”
