Local governments hold solution to poverty, says Presidency

The Presidency has said that local governments hold the key to tackling poverty among Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens because they are the tier of government closest to the people.

The position was stated by the Special Adviser to the President on Economic Affairs (Office of the Vice President), Tope Fasua, during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics on July 5, 2026.

He added that the Federal Government has deliberately shifted more responsibilities and resources to states and local governments in line with President Bola Tinubu’s push for local government autonomy.

What they are saying

Fasua said the Federal Government’s decentralisation efforts are intended to enable state and local governments to address grassroots challenges such as poverty more effectively. He recalled that local government councils previously served as the first point of contact for many vulnerable Nigerians seeking assistance.

• “The second aspect of the micro thing, I think the real trick there is the fact that the federal government has pushed a lot of responsibilities to the states and the local governments. And Mr President is big on local government autonomy, and I’ve told you the kind of numbers that some local governments are getting.”
• “And all those little things, like fixing poverty, for example, is actually a local government thing; the local governments are the ones closest to the people. In 1999, I used to go to many local governments. I was working in the banking sector, when you go to a lot of local governments, I remember Ifako-Ijaiye, Mushin, under G.O Solomon, Apapa up to Ikorodu, everywhere, and I saw how local governments were still working then.”
• “The hordes of people that will come to local governments, the people who are really down and out on their luck, they go to the local government Chairman on a daily basis.”
• “So the solution to poverty that I was talking about is really at the local government and that is the reason why the president has advocated for local government autonomy and has also ensured that states are a lot more powerful now in terms of the funding that they are getting.”

Fasua maintained that empowering local governments with greater financial resources and autonomy would improve their capacity to respond directly to the needs of vulnerable communities.

More insight

The presidential aide also argued that the financial position of states and local governments has improved under the current administration, enabling them to better meet their obligations. He added that effective poverty reduction requires detailed documentation of households, a task that can only be executed efficiently at the subnational level.

• Fasua said the era when many state governments owed civil servants salaries for six, 12 or even 18 months has largely ended, while pensioners are also receiving their entitlements more regularly.
• He argued that increased allocations to states and local governments have improved their capacity to support vulnerable residents and implement grassroots development programmes.
• According to him, Nigeria can draw lessons from China’s poverty eradication programme, where authorities maintained detailed records of individual households to target interventions effectively.

He stressed that such household-level documentation cannot be achieved by the Federal Government alone but requires active collaboration with state and local governments.

He reiterated that strengthening local government administration remains central to addressing poverty sustainably across the country.

What you should know

The Federal Government has consistently defended its economic policies and local government reforms as critical tools for improving living standards and reducing poverty. The push for local government autonomy has also received judicial backing.

• In October 2025, the Presidency rejected a World Bank report stating that about 139 million Nigerians were living in poverty, arguing that the estimate did not accurately reflect the country’s current realities.
• The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, said the figure was based on the World Bank’s global poverty line of $2.15 per person per day measured in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms and should not be interpreted as a real-time headcount.
• In July 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that Nigeria’s 774 local government areas should enjoy full financial autonomy across the federation.

The landmark judgment, delivered by a seven-member panel led by Justice Garba Lawal, reinforced the constitutional independence of local governments and paved the way for direct allocation of funds.

The Presidency has repeatedly maintained that greater financial autonomy for local governments will strengthen grassroots governance and improve service delivery, particularly in addressing poverty and other socio-economic challenges.