Mojeed Alabi’s DevReporting Looks into Local Government Finances

"May your road be rough," said Tai Solarin in his 1964 piece of the same title. Those words came to mind for Mojeed Alabi and his DevReporting team as I sat in the audience last Thursday at UNILAG. But, as Mr Solarin warned, those words can be misunderstood. I will come back to them later.

A few years ago, I led a team of journalists on a project about the Nigerian agricultural value chain. We focused on the key causes of post-harvest losses while food prices were high. I must admit that even as an editor and team lead on several projects, nothing makes me happier than going out with my reporter colleagues. We gather data, map sources, and talk directly with the people we are investigating. I enjoy field reporting, and that is why I found myself covering the South-West leg of that national project, taking me to Osun and other parts of the region.

While this project showed me how important post-harvest losses are to Nigeria’s food sustainability talk, it also revealed a bigger issue: the failure of governance at the local government level. From Iwo to Ile-Ogbo, Ife-Odan, and Ejigbo, I traveled across Osun and other areas like Oyo, Kwara, and Ogun. I was saddened by the level of neglect I saw at the grassroots. It was clear to me that the food sustainability crisis, shown in post-harvest losses due to bad roads and poor storage facilities, was partly a result of weak local governance. Osun was not alone; it was a small example of Nigeria, showing what has become of local governance in our country.

Last Thursday, I attended an event at the University of Lagos’ Faculty of Arts Theatre. Again, the issue of local governance and its importance to national development was highlighted, with Osun as a case study. The event was the public screening of "LG Billions in the Dark," an investigative documentary made by DevReporting, which was founded by a respected journalist, Mojeed Alabi. The documentary looks at the long-standing local government leadership crisis in Osun State and what it means for public finance, accountability, and grassroots development.

The event was chaired by Dapo Olorunyomi, publisher of PREMIUM TIMES and a well-known figure in journalism. Human rights lawyer Femi Falana was the keynote speaker. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Folasade Ogunsola, a professor of medical microbiology, and other prominent figures in media, academia, and civil society also attended.

From my years watching how things work in Nigeria’s political scene, I believe that calling for people to focus their anger on state and local governments doesn’t always come from the best intentions. Sometimes, it is a way to shift attention from the federal government. But for anyone who genuinely cares about governance in Nigeria, beyond the money meant for local government in recent years, highlighting the grassroots has become very important.

Mr Falana made this point clearly in his keynote address, titled ‘Accountability, Resources and Citizen Voices: Building Local Governments that Work for the People.’ He argued that Nigeria’s development issues cannot be solved by only holding the federal government accountable while ignoring state and local governments. Local governments, being the closest to citizens, should be given the power to meet daily development needs like healthcare, education, infrastructure, and economic opportunities.

If anyone doubted Mr Falana’s argument, the Osun LG documentary by the DevReporting team proved it right. The documentary is a strong piece of accountability journalism that exposes the poor state of local infrastructure, a direct result of failing governance at the grassroots level in Osun. During the documentary, one resident humorously described the terrible roads in his community, saying they were so bad that even a stubborn cow would break its legs if it tried to walk on them! The hall burst into laughter, but beneath the humor was a painful truth: we cannot achieve real development nationally if the grassroots are broken.

There are arguments against the calls for local government autonomy, which I won't discuss here. But from my travels across Nigeria, it is clear that the near-total collapse of the local government system goes against the spirit of democracy. The current system needs a complete change.

The event also included a panel discussion on local government management. Panellists included Moyosore Adebanjo, Chairman of Onigbongbo Local Council Development Area; former Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo; legal counsel, Comfort Idika-Ogunye; Head of Tracka at BudgIT, Joshua Osiyemi; a Political Science lecturer at UNILAG, Vera Amaechi; and Azeezat Olaoluwa, West Africa Correspondent of Deutsche Welle. Mr Adedayo shared an interesting view on how local government drives development based on his experience in Ogun State.

At the event, Uncle Dapsy, as we affectionately call Dapo Olorunyomi, made a clever point about how a country’s media system connects to its development in key areas like business, sports, and politics. This analogy captures the situation well. It highlights the responsibility that Mojeed Alabi and his DevReporting team have taken on.

Journalism is often a thankless job, and questioning authorities to highlight accountability issues is even more challenging. Alabi and his team will need all the support they can get as they move through tough paths, uncovering bureaucratic issues and questioning financial transparency to encourage accountability and grassroots development.

So, I would return to Solarin and say to Mojeed Alabi and his team: "May your road be rough." As Mr Tai, the brave social critic, warned, the road towards demanding accountable governance is meant to be tough. All great achievements come with serious challenges and sacrifices. I wish Egbon Mojeed and his team all the best.