Many communities across Nigeria are battling with havoc wreaked by flooding despite N82.1 billion ecological fund allocated to the 774 local government areas of the federation in one year by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The ecological fund is earmarked for addressing flooding, droughts and other natural disasters that continue to plunge millions of poor Nigerians into humanitarian crises, including untimely deaths and mass displacement.
Daily Trust reports that the fund is shared monthly between state, local governments and the Federal Capital Territory.
However, almost all the state governments continue to maintain direct access to the local governments’ share of the fund, two years after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling granting financial autonomy to LGs.
The federal government had filed a suit against the 36 state governors before the Supreme Court, accusing them of usurping the constitutional powers of local governments by withholding federal allocations meant for the councils. It also noted that the governors disbursed the funds at their discretion through the State Joint Local Government
Account, after making deductions.
Delivering the lead judgment on July 11, 2024, Justice Emmanuel Agim held that local governments should henceforth receive their allocations directly from the Accountant-General of the Federation, adding that it was illegal and unconstitutional for governors to receive and withhold funds allocated to LGAs in their states.
In December 2025, Tinubu warned state governors that he might be compelled to issue an Executive Order to ensure direct allocations to local governments if they failed to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. The President has yet to do so.
Efforts to get the Accountant General of the Federation’s comment on why the ruling has not been implemented were unsuccessful.
Analysts say despite the apex court judgment, the stranglehold on the local governments’ allocations, including the ecological fund, may linger except there is an amendment to Section 162 of the Constitution, which requires each state to maintain a special account called the “State Joint Local Government Account” to pool funds allocated from the federation account and state revenues.
During the period under review, May 2025 to April 2026, the FAAC disbursed a total sum of N99 billion to the 36 states and N865 million to the six area councils in the FCT, according to the data released by the Accountant-General of the Federation.
In a statement last Tuesday, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) issued a seven-day flood alert, warning that 17 states across the country face a medium risk of flooding between July 21 and July 27, 2026. The agency warned that rising water levels along major rivers and floodplains could trigger localised flooding in vulnerable communities, urging authorities and residents to take swift preventive action to prevent loss of life and property.
Over the years, discussions have largely centred on ecological funds disbursed to states with little attention paid to the share of the local governments.
The data mined from the AOGF website indicates that a substantial amount was disbursed to each of the 774 LGAs in one year. The top earners are Kano LGAs, N4.53bn; Katsina LGAs, N3.35bn; Oyo LGAs, N2.97bn;
