What is the state of Lagos’ budget transparency in 2025?

On the state government’s websites, I was able to find audited statements dating as far back as 2014.

One of the enduring criticisms of the Lagos State Government is the black box nature of its budgeting processes. In 2018, the civic think-tank, BudgIT, described Lagos’ financial statements as “notoriously kept opaque, with scant useful information” in the public domain. This clandestine process is also a popular attack line for opposing politicians who seek to wrest the state away from the grip of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which has, in multiple forms, governed the state since the return of democracy in 1999. If the government cannot be transparent with public funds, why should citizens trust them with votes?

But what exactly is secret about Lagos State’s budget processes? This is not a straightforward answer. Every year, the state government presents the annual budget to the House of Assembly; newspapers report the total amount of the budget, the recurrent and capital expenditure and sectoral breakdown. On the state government’s websites, I was able to find audited statemen…