By Amos Aar
Across Nigeria, the call for full Local Government financial autonomy has grown louder, framed as the missing link to grassroots development and democratic dividends.
Advocates argue that freeing Councils from State control would unlock stalled projects, bring governance closer to the people, and end the long-standing complaints that state governments routinely divert or withhold local government funds. Yet, unfolding events in Benue State have cast a troubling shadow over this popular agitation, raising uncomfortable questions about whether autonomy alone can deliver development without accountability.
The irony could hardly be starker. At a time when Nigerians are demanding that local councils be allowed to receive and manage their funds directly, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested and arraigned the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Benue State and Chairman of Kwande Local Government Council, Hon. Vitalis Neji, over alleged embezzlement of local government funds. The Punch and Premium Times reported Neji’s arraignment by the EFCC on January 21, 2026.
Investigations by the anti-graft agency are also reported to have extended to all 23 local government chairmen in the State, alongside senior finance officials and consultants.
According to reports by Premium Times, the EFCC is probing an alleged diversion of about N4.6 billion, said to have been paid as consultancy fees for the audit of Local Government staff, pensioners, primary healthcare workers, and Local Government Education Authority personnel across Benue State.
The funds, investigators allege, were siphoned in the process, triggering a sweeping investigation that has unsettled the state’s local government system.
Similar accounts by The Punch confirmed that all 23 chairmen were invited for questioning as the probe widened.
This development has reignited a national concern: if Local Governments are granted full financial autonomy under the current structure, who holds the gatekeepers accountable?
For years, state governments have been accused of turning joint allocation accounts into instruments of control, often starving Councils of funds meant for salaries, primary healthcare, rural roads, and sanitation.
The Supreme Court’s ruling affirming local government autonomy was wholeheartedly celebrated as a turning point. Anti-corruption agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), have publicly warned that any defiance of the ruling or misuse of funds at the council level would attract serious consequences.
However, the Benue case illustrates a serious governance problem. Corruption, critics argue, does not automatically disappear when power is devolved; it merely changes address.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede has repeatedly cautioned that autonomy should not be mistaken for immunity, insisting that Local Councils must build strong accountability structures or risk becoming “ATMs for corrupt officials,” a warning echoed in national media.
The stakes are high. Local governments are closest to the people and control sectors that directly affect daily life; primary education, healthcare, rural infrastructure, and markets.
If corruption thrives at this level, the consequences are immediate and severe: uncleared salary and pension arrears, abandoned projects, decaying clinics, and deepening poverty.
In such a scenario, financial autonomy without oversight could worsen, rather than cure, grassroots underdevelopment.
But the most unfortunate question is, where do the funds recovered by the EFCC go? No nobody knows about it.
Civil society actors and policy analysts are of the opinion that autonomy must go hand in hand with reforms. These include transparent budgeting, open procurement processes, strengthened legislative councils, regular audits, and active community participation. Without these safeguards, autonomy risks empowering a new class of local strongmen, shielded by political patronage and weak institutions.
The Benue EFCC probe, therefore, is more than a state-level scandal; it is a national cautionary tale. It challenges the simplistic narrative that states are the sole villains in local government underperformance and underscores the need for integrity at every tier of government.
As Nigeria inches closer to fully implementing local government autonomy, the question remains urgent and unresolved: will autonomy translate into development, or will it merely decentralize corruption?
Until accountability becomes as strong as the demand for autonomy, the promise of grassroots development may remain, painfully, out of reach.
