Nigeria’s Food System Failure
Dr Anyanwu, Christiantus Izuchukwu
Education Budgeting And Learning Outcomes In Nigeria: Why Spending Increases Have Not Delivered Results
Nigeria does not have an education funding problem. It has an education accountability problem disguised as a funding problem. Over the past decade, Nigeria has expanded education spending at a […]
Climate Adaptation in Nigeria: How Weak Local Authority Undermines Community Resilience
Climate stress in Nigeria has entered a phase of persistent disruption rather than episodic shock. Between 2022 and 2024, nationwide flooding displaced more than 3 million people, destroyed over 600,000 […]
Gender Equity and Nigeria’s Governance Gap
By Dr Izuchukwu Christiantus Anyanwu
Bank Fees, Dormant Accounts, and a Hidden Governance Gap in Nigeria’s Financial Inclusion Strategy
Introduction Nigeria’s financial inclusion framework has succeeded in expanding access to formal financial services but has failed to protect continued participation, allowing routine bank fees to quietly erode small balances […]
Post-Crash Survival in Nigeria and the Erosion of Trauma Care Governance
Road traffic crashes in Nigeria have entered a phase where high incidence is no longer the sole policy concern; survival after injury has become a barometer of systemic coherence. Nigeria […]
Stabilising Traditional Authority in Nigeria’s Subnational Governance
Executive Summary Nigeria’s persistent open defecation (OD) crisis reflects a failure of local service delivery rather than a lack of national policy ambition. Despite comprehensive frameworks such as the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) 2016–2030, and donor-supported programmes including the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Programme (SURWASH), an estimated 48 million Nigerians, about 23 per cent of the population, still practice open defecation. The burden falls heaviest on rural communities governed by low-capacity local government areas (LGAs), where progress is fragile and often reversed. This policy brief contends that the failure is not one of design, but of delivery. The third tier of government—tasked with translating policy into practice—operates within a system marked by blurred responsibilities, constrained finances, weak incentives, and monitoring systems that observe but do not compel. Where authority, funding, and accountability align, sanitation outcomes improve; where they do not, policy dissolves into paper. Drawing lessons from countries that have reduced open defecation through disciplined local execution, this brief proposes an LGA-driven sanitation delivery model anchored in three principles: ● Clarity of responsibility, ● Performance-based financing ● Enforceability monitoring. The brief argues for strengthening—not replacing—existing frameworks such as PEWASH by embedding incentives, sanctions, and public accountability at the local level. The path to SDG 6 in Nigeria lies not in drafting new strategies but in ensuring that existing ones are carried out, with rigour and consequence, into the smallest administrative unit, namely, the local government.
Security Votes and Fiscal Accountability in Nigeria’s Security Governance
Nigeria is allocating more resources to security than at any point in its recent history, yet insecurity persists across the federation. Banditry, kidnapping, communal violence, insurgent activity, and organised crime […]
New Vectors, Old Weaknesses: Nigeria’s Malaria Fight
By Deborah Bukola Sunday
Shortfall In Care: How Weak Neonatal Care Governance Is Costing Nigeria Newborn Lives
Nigeria’s persistently high neonatal mortality is not a failure of medical knowledge, nor is it primarily a consequence of insufficient specialised equipment. It reflects weak neonatal care governance: a system […]