When Bolouboye Micah Eradiri speaks about public service, he doesn’t begin with budgets or politics he starts with trust.
“The real crisis in governance,” he often says, “isn’t always about money or manpower. It’s about trustcitizens no longer believing that government can deliver what it promises.”
That idea has shaped his journey across two continents. From his work in local government management in the United States to his growing influence in public administration conversations in Nigeria, Micah has seen first-hand how performance management can repair what politics alone cannot: faith in institutions.
Reframing Governance Through Measurement
Micah’s approach to governance is simple but radical: what gets measured gets trusted.
He explains that in effective local governments, performance isn’t an afterthought it’s the system itself. “You can’t fix what you don’t measure, and you can’t improve what you hide,” he says.
In his experience, data and transparency can turn skepticism into engagement. Communities that measure how fast roads are repaired, how frequently waste is collected, or how efficiently permits are processed begin to rebuild confidence from the ground up.
When Bolouboye Micah Eradiri speaks about public service, he doesn’t begin with budgets or politics he starts with trust.
“The real crisis in governance,” he often says, “isn’t always about money or manpower. It’s about trustcitizens no longer believing that government can deliver what it promises.”
That idea has shaped his journey across two continents. From his work in local government management in the United States to his growing influence in public administration conversations in Nigeria, Micah has seen first-hand how performance management can repair what politics alone cannot: faith in institutions.
Reframing Governance Through Measurement
Micah’s approach to governance is simple but radical: what gets measured gets trusted.
He explains that in effective local governments, performance isn’t an afterthought it’s the system itself. “You can’t fix what you don’t measure, and you can’t improve what you hide,” he says.
In his experience, data and transparency can turn skepticism into engagement. Communities that measure how fast roads are repaired, how frequently waste is collected, or how efficiently permits are processed begin to rebuild confidence from the ground up.
He believes Nigerian local governments can adopt the same mindset with modest tools simple dashboards, quarterly reports, or radio updates to show citizens that governance is not invisible.
The Power of Communication
But measurement alone, Micah warns, is not enough.
“Data must speak human,” he says with a smile. “If citizens don’t understand what government is doing, they’ll assume it’s doing nothing.”
He has seen how short public updates clear bulletins, infographics, or community briefings help citizens feel informed and included. Translating numbers into stories, he notes, makes governance relatable.
Imagine a local council saying: ‘This month, we repaired 3 km of roads and vaccinated 600 children.’ That small act of communication can build credibility faster than a hundred speeches.
For Micah, performance management is also a bridge between government and the governed. He often recalls how communities he’s worked with encouraged residents to help set priorities and evaluate services.
When citizens participate in defining what success looks like, he says, governance transforms from a distant promise into a shared project.
He envisions Nigerian LGAs holding regular “citizens’ review sessions,” where progress is openly discussed and feedback is welcomed. “People support what they help create,” he adds. “When citizens feel part of the process, accountability becomes collective.”
Empowering the Public Workforce
Another key lesson from Micah’s experience is that public servants must be equipped and celebrated, not just evaluated.
He’s observed that morale and innovation rise when employees see that their work is measured fairly and recognized publicly. In his words: “Accountability should never be a weapon it should be a mirror that helps us do better.”
He suggests Nigeria’s local councils invest in setting clear performance targets, offer constructive feedback, and publicly celebrate milestones. Empowerment, he insists, fuels excellence.
Building Continuity Beyond Politics
Micah often reflects on one of governance’s quietest challenges discontinuity. Each new administration, he says, tends to restart the wheel.
“Institutional trust is impossible without institutional memory,” he argues. Governments that codify and continue existing performance frameworks send a signal of seriousness.
For Nigeria, he recommends that states encourage or legislate annual performance reporting for local councils, ensuring that even when leadership changes, the record of service endures.
“Continuity,” he says, “is how a community learns to trust again.”
Bridging the Autonomy Gap
In Nigeria, the ongoing debate around local government autonomy underscores how fragile trust can become when authority is distant from accountability. For decades, local councils have operated under tight fiscal and administrative control from state governments, limiting their ability to act as responsive, people-centered institutions. Yet, around the world and particularly in the United States local governments thrive precisely because they are empowered to manage resources, engage directly with citizens, and innovate without
excessive interference. The success of that model is not in its wealth but in its structure of proximity government built closest to the people.
Micah believes Nigeria’s councils can achieve the same by institutionalizing performance systems that demonstrate their readiness for autonomy: tracking results, publishing progress, and showing that accountability to citizens not bureaucracy is the most valid form of governance.
A Universal Language of Accountability
Micah’s voice bridges two governance worlds the American model of structured accountability and Nigeria’s evolving quest for responsive local leadership. Yet his message transcends geography.
“Performance management isn’t a Western idea,” he concludes. “It’s a universal language that tells citizens, we see you, we hear you, and we are measuring ourselves honestly.”
For Nigeria, those words could mark the beginning of a quiet but profound transformation: a shift from politics of promises to a culture of proof.
Faith in governance can return but only when results are seen, not just said.
About the Subject:
Bolouboye Micah Eradiri is a Local Government Management Fellow with the Borough of State College, Pennsylvania, where he works on performance management, housing policy, and strategic innovation in municipal governance. A member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), he focuses on strengthening data-driven, community-centered local government systems that promote accountability and public trust.
