By IKPAT UduakAbasi

Again, the numbers are in.

For the month of June 2026, the 774 Local Government Councils across Nigeria received a combined sum of N591.39 billion from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC.

That is not a typo. That is over half a trillion naira meant to touch the lives of people at the grassroots — to fix primary health centers, pay teachers, grade rural roads, sink boreholes, and support vulnerable families.

At an average of roughly N764 million per LGA before statutory deductions, no council chairman can say “there is no money.” The money came. It entered the accounts.

So the question every Nigerian must now ask is simple: Hold your LG Chairman accountable o!

For too long we have debated federal and state budgets while the tier of government closest to the people operated in darkness. Yet it is the LGA that issues birth certificates, runs primary schools, manages markets, and responds first to flooding, insecurity, and hunger.

With this June allocation, citizens have every right to demand:
1. Transparency: LG Council chairmen must publish the exact amount received, deductions made, and what it will be spent on. Put it on the council notice board and on social media.
2. Delivery: Will this money translate to drugs in the PHC, desks in classrooms, and streetlights that work? Or will it disappear into personal pockets – “overhead” and political allowances?
3. Participation: Town hall meetings should no longer be a formality. The people whose lives depend on this money must be in the room when decisions are made.

The renewed autonomy conversation means nothing if it does not lead to results in the ward. As journalists and governance advocates, our job is to follow the money from FAAC to the final beneficiary — the mother in the village, the student in the public school, the farmer on the rural road.

President Tinubu’s reforms and Governor Umo Eno’s ARISE Agenda both preach “leaving no one behind.” That promise will be tested and proven at the local government level.

N591.39 billion is not just a figure. It is a test.
A test of leadership, of accountability, and of democracy at the grassroots.

Chairmen, the people are watching.
Citizens, the power to ask questions is in your hands.

The money has landed. Now let’s see the impact.

I no want talk too much before them say na person sponsor me o!