By Jotham Emenyonu (08034223515)
Sixty-six years after Nigeria gained independence, the celebration of nationhood provides another opportunity not only to reflect on how far the country has travelled, but also to ask a more uncomfortable question: how much of that journey has translated into a better life for ordinary Nigerians at the grassroots?
In Imo State, this question becomes particularly important when attention shifts away from the state capital and major urban centres to the numerous rural communities where millions of people live, farm, trade, raise families and contribute to the economy.
For many of these communities, the basic expectations of modern society remain painfully familiar: good roads, functional hospitals and primary healthcare centres, potable water, electricity, decent public schools, sanitation and other essential social amenities.
Nigeria is 66 years old as an independent nation, yet there are communities where getting to a hospital during an emergency remains an ordeal because of the condition of access roads. There are farmers whose greatest difficulty is not producing food but transporting their produce to markets. There are children who must negotiate deteriorated rural roads to reach school.
This reality deserves attention at every level of government.
Perhaps nowhere is the contradiction more striking than in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area where I come from.
For years, residents and community organisations have complained about the condition of roads across parts of Ngor Okpala. There have been reported complaints from residents who described the road situation as severely affecting economic and educational activities. The report included complaints about difficulty accessing even the local government headquarters at Umuneke.
The concern has not disappeared.
In 2026, reports continued to highlight the poor state of roads in communities across Ngor Okpala. The significance of these roads cannot be overstated. Rural roads connect farmers to markets, pregnant women and sick residents to health facilities, children to schools and communities to centres of economic activity.
When such roads become difficult or impossible to navigate, particularly during the rainy season, the problem goes far beyond transportation. It becomes an economic, educational and healthcare problem.
The condition of healthcare facilities in Imerienwe deserves attention. A quarterly report published by the Imo State Orientation Agency also recorded that the Nguru/Umuowa community in Ngor Okpala requested rehabilitation of schools, while a visit to the Nguru/Umuowa Health Centre found its environment bushy and untidy before intervention to clean the premises.
For communities such as Imerienwe, Umuowa, Umuneke and other parts of Ngor Okpala, the demand should not be considered extravagant. Residents are not asking for skyscrapers or luxury infrastructure. They are asking for roads that vehicles can travel on, health facilities that can respond to emergencies, functional schools, water and electricity.
And Ngor Okpala is not alone.
In Ohaji/Egbema, particularly the oil-producing communities, similar concerns have been raised repeatedly.
In August 2026, residents of Umuokanne and Ohoba appealed for intervention on a road linking their communities, saying its condition had affected access to healthcare facilities, markets and neighbouring communities. According to the report, residents said portions of the road had become practically impassable, forcing people to use longer alternative routes.
The irony is difficult to overlook because Ohaji/Egbema is one of Imo State’s oil-producing areas. Communities that contribute to the country’s extractive economy have repeatedly demanded roads, electricity, healthcare facilities and other infrastructure.
In Oguta, the story has similarities.
Recently, residents of Agwa and Ejemekwuru communities raised concerns about poor roads and school infrastructure and appealed for government intervention.
In Mbaitoli communities have also raised infrastructure concerns.
As recently as September 2026, residents of Nsokpo community in Ogbaku appealed for intervention over the condition of major roads connecting them with neighbouring communities.
Reports from Mbieri have similarly highlighted concerns over rural roads and access to healthcare. One of the complaints concerned access roads leading to Mbieri General Hospital, illustrating an important point: constructing or maintaining a hospital is only one part of healthcare delivery. People must also be able to reach it, particularly during emergencies.
Ideato North and Ideato South present another dimension of the infrastructure challenge.
There, deteriorating roads intersect with a serious ecological problem. In June 2025, the House of Representatives considered a motion concerning gully erosion affecting more than 30 communities in the Ideato Federal Constituency, with concerns about its impact on roads and access to healthcare, education and economic activities.
In Ehime Mbano, residents of Amaimo Umukabia also protested in 2025 over the condition of community roads, saying poor access was affecting movement and evacuation of agricultural produce.
These examples should not be interpreted to mean that there have been no government interventions in Imo State.
There have been road projects and healthcare interventions. For example, the Federal Government and Imo State Government signed an agreement in June 2026 for the takeover and upgrading of General Hospital Okigwe to a Federal Medical Centre.
There have also been reported improvements at some rural primary healthcare facilities. A May 2026 report documented revitalisation efforts at health centres in Isiala Mbano and Mbaitoli, while also identifying continuing structural challenges affecting grassroots healthcare delivery.
Acknowledging these interventions is important. But it does not erase the legitimate question raised by communities still waiting for basic infrastructure.
The allocation question
This is where public finance becomes central to the discussion.
Every month, money from the Federation Account is distributed among the federal, state and local governments.
For context, the Federal Ministry of Finance reported that ₦1.818 trillion in distributable Federation Account revenue for June 2025 was shared among the three tiers of government. The Federal Government received ₦645.383 billion, state governments received ₦607.417 billion, local government councils received ₦444.853 billion, while ₦120.759 billion went to oil-producing states as 13 per cent derivation.
Imo State itself budgets for substantial Federation Account receipts. Its 2025 approved budget projected about ₦293.15 billion as the state government’s share of FAAC revenue for the year. The state’s first-quarter 2025 budget implementation report subsequently recorded approximately ₦45.10 billion actually received as its share of FAAC during the first three months of the year.
Local governments also receive Federation Account allocations.
Published figures attributed to FAAC/BudgIT data for June 2025 reported allocations of approximately ₦529.09 million to Mbaitoli, ₦479.92 million to Ohaji/Egbema, ₦454.63 million to Ideato South, ₦453.17 million to Ideato North, ₦452.18 million to Ngor Okpala, ₦442.38 million to Oguta and ₦413.80 million to Ehime Mbano for that month.
These figures naturally raise questions.
If hundreds of millions of naira are allocated to individual local governments in particular months, what proportion ultimately goes into salaries, pensions, statutory obligations, administration, debt or other recurrent expenditure? How much is available for capital development? How much is spent directly on rural roads, primary healthcare centres, schools, water and sanitation?
And, most importantly, what measurable projects can residents associate with those expenditures?
These are questions that transparent public accounts should make possible to answer.
The existence of an allocation does not mean that the entire amount is freely available for constructing roads. Governments have recurrent obligations, personnel costs and other statutory responsibilities. It would therefore be misleading to treat every naira received from FAAC as money available exclusively for infrastructure.
But that qualification does not eliminate the responsibility to account for public resources.
Rather, it strengthens the case for greater transparency.
If a local government receives hundreds of millions of naira, residents should be able to know how much came in, how much was spent, what it was spent on, which contractors handled capital projects, what projects were completed and what remains outstanding.
Rural communities should not remain spectators
Development cannot be measured only by what happens in Owerri.
The appearance of a state capital can never provide a complete picture of the condition of an entire state.
The farmer in Ngor Okpala deserves a motorable road to take agricultural produce to market.
The pregnant woman in Ohaji/Egbema deserves timely access to a properly equipped health facility.
Children in Oguta, Mbaitoli, Ideato, Ehime Mbano and other parts of Imo deserve decent classrooms and safe roads to school.
Rural communities deserve clean water.
They deserve electricity.
They deserve functioning primary healthcare facilities with qualified personnel, essential medicines and equipment.
These are not privileges. They are among the basic services citizens reasonably expect government institutions to provide.
At 66 years of independence, Nigeria should have moved beyond a situation where communities repeatedly organise delegations, protests and appeals simply to obtain basic roads, water, electricity and healthcare.
The responsibility is shared across the tiers of government.
Some roads are federal roads. Others fall under state responsibility, while many rural and community roads are primarily local responsibilities. Healthcare similarly involves federal, state and local institutions. It is therefore important not to attribute every abandoned road or struggling health facility to one tier of government without establishing responsibility.
What citizens can legitimately demand from all three tiers is coordination, transparency and measurable delivery.
From allocations to visible development
As Nigeria celebrates 66 years of independence, the conversation should therefore move beyond ceremonies, speeches and anniversary messages.
Independence must have meaning in the everyday lives of citizens.
For the resident of a rural community, development is tangible. It is the road that allows an ambulance to reach a patient. It is the health centre with medical workers and medicines. It is the school building that does not leak when it rains. It is the borehole that provides safe water. It is electricity that enables businesses to operate beyond daylight hours.
Government at all levels should therefore make rural development a measurable priority.
Local governments, in particular, should publish accessible accounts of allocations received and projects executed. Communities should know the budgets for their areas and be able to monitor implementation.
The state government should also continue expanding infrastructure beyond major urban corridors, paying particular attention to roads that connect agricultural communities, schools, markets and healthcare facilities.
Federal intervention remains necessary where federal roads, ecological disasters and other responsibilities within federal jurisdiction are involved.
Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary should consequently be more than an occasion for celebration. It should also provide an opportunity for reflection.
Why should a community that has existed for generations still be campaigning for its first dependable access road?
Why should residents have to contribute money repeatedly to provide infrastructure that appears in public budgets?
Why should getting a seriously ill person from a village to a hospital become a race against both sickness and bad roads?
And when hundreds of millions of naira in public allocations are recorded for local governments, citizens should be able to see and verify what those resources have accomplished.
For the people of Ngor Okpala, Ohaji/Egbema, Mbaitoli, Oguta, Ideato, Ehime Mbano and numerous other communities across Imo State, those questions are not abstract political arguments.
They affect everyday life.
Sixty-six years after independence, the challenge before government is therefore clear: public revenue must increasingly translate into visible, verifiable and sustainable improvements in the communities where ordinary people live.
Nigeria’s independence will carry greater meaning when the dividends of governance are not determined by whether a citizen lives in a state capital or a remote village.
Until good roads, accessible healthcare, potable water, functional schools, electricity and other basic amenities become normal features of rural life, the celebration of national progress will continue to coexist with an uncomfortable reality:
66 years after independence, too many Imo communities are still crying out for the basics.
