Some governors in the country may be getting more desperate to share in the monthly allocation to local governments if revelations by some sources, including a council chairman and a party candidate, are anything to go by.
Findings by Sunday PUNCH showed that some governors have devised means to continue cornering council funds through secret oath-taking deals and agreements with elected chairmen.
The Supreme Court granted financial autonomy to the 774 LGs on July 11 and directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay allocations directly to their accounts.
Consequently, the Federal Government on August 20 set up a 10-member inter-ministerial committee to implement the court’s ruling.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the panel, headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, had concluded its assignment and would submit its report any moment from Monday, October 14.
A few days after the Supreme Court judgment, state governors asked for a three-month moratorium before the commencement of direct allocation to the LGs to enable them to conduct elections.
Ebonyi, Bauchi, Kebi, Oyo, Kwara, Imo, Enugu, Sokoto, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, and Rivers are the states that have conducted LG elections.
The President of the National Union of Local Government Employees, Ambali Olatunji, earlier this month disclosed that the Federal Government would commence direct payment of allocations into the accounts of each LG by the end of October.
An elected council chairman in one of the South-West states told Sunday PUNCH that he was compelled to pledge allegiance and give his state governor access to the funds all the time.
According to the chairman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, he and his colleagues repledged their loyalty to the governor after the Supreme Court verdict.
He said, “After the Supreme Court judgment, we met the governor and pledged our allegiance to him. We told him we would always abide by his directive on our LG funds. I cannot say we did that voluntarily; something propelled us to do it. Maybe I wouldn’t be the local government chairman now if I didn’t pledge because that was before our election. You should understand beyond what I have said.”
A senior media officer in the same state told Sunday PUNCH that part of the agreement the chairmen had with the governor was continuous remittance of their funds to a dedicated state account.
“I am privy to their arrangement. The chairmen were asked to pledge allegiance that they would continue to remit money to the state when the direct allocation commences. The only grace they have with the arrangement on ground now is that after payment of teachers and other workers, the chairmen will take N5m as security vote; the vice chairman and other principal officers will also have their running costs, while N10m will be set aside for the running of the local government. The rest of the allocation will then be sent to the state”, he added.
Also, a local government chairmanship candidate in one of the southern states told Sunday PUNCH that he and his colleagues took an oath to follow their governor’s directive on LG funds before they were cleared to be the candidates of the party.
“We are to follow the governor’s directive on local government funds; that was our pledge, and I don’t think it is bad,” he stated.
At least five other chairmen contacted by our correspondents in the North-East declined to comment on the matter.
The council bosses, after listening to Sunday PUNCH, said they had nothing to say.
A political analyst in Sokoto State, Abdul AbdulKareem, said Nigerians should not expect anything special from the chairmen.
“Why will you be deceiving yourself to ask such things from them; no one among them will admit to such questions. The only thing we know is none of them can do anything without instructions either from the governor or the leader of the party in the state. They were all appointed into that place for a purpose and can’t go contrary to that,” he added.
A former local government chairman in Ogun State, Wale Adedayo, urged chairmen to resist every attempt by governors to arm-twist them to remit their allocations back to states.
Adedayo, who was removed as the chairman of Ijebu East LGA of Ogun State for accusing the state governor of diverting LG funds, also urged the Federal Government to set up machinery to track and monitor LG funds.
“If quality local government chairmen are elected, none of them will agree to any arrangement by governors to return their allocations to states.
“President Bola Tinubu needs to revisit what President Shehu Shagari did during his tenure. Shagari had presidential liaison officers in all the states of the federation to monitor local government activities for the Federal Government. Tinubu also needs to appoint liaison officers for each state of the federation so that they can monitor local governments.
“The governors have taken the Federal Government to court to abolish EFCC. They are doing this so that nobody will be able to hold them accountable and essentially to continue to divert local government funds. They know that it is only the EFCC that can expose them so they don’t want the EFCC there again,” Adedayo said.
On his part, the immediate past chairman of the Ogun State chapter of the Association of Local Government of Nigeria, Babatunde Emilola-Gazal, called for the review of the revenue-sharing formula in order to give local governments more funds.
Emilola-Gazal said the current sharing formula was “unfair and skewed” in favour of both the state and federal governments.
He argued that most local governments might still be unable to meet their financial obligations with the current revenue-sharing formula even if the Federal Government paid allocation directly into their accounts.
He said, “There is no reason for what Anambra State Government or any other state government wants to do. It is not right, it is not justifiable, it is wrong and unfair at a time when everybody is looking forward to more development at the grassroots level.
“There is a problem with the revenue sharing formula. As of today, the 774 local governments in the country take 20.6 per cent of what accrues to the federation account, the state governments take 26 per cent while the Federal Government takes 52 per cent.
“There is a need for the revenue sharing formula to be revisited so that more funds will be given to the local governments than what is presently done. How can 774 local governments take 20.6 per cent while the Federal government takes 52 per cent of what is in the federation account. That sharing formula is inappropriate, it is skewed in favour of the Federal Government and that needs to be addressed.
The Secretary-General, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Mohammed Abubakar, added that the organisation was on top of the situation.
He said, “Yes, we are aware of the scheme of governors. But, there’s something ALGON is also facing. The leadership of the association sometimes also looks at the body language of their governors because these governors are in control of the chairmen. But, you know, we have the registrar trustees of the association, who to some extent are not chairmen in council. So, they seem to be the ones that are leading the pack on the agitation that this must be implemented. Some chairmen sometimes will not want to be in the bad book of their governors. So, they don’t speak out when necessary.
“But I can assure you that the board of trustees is on top of the issue. Very soon, you will hear from the trustees speaking and following up on the necessary authority to implement this. I can assure you that majority of the chairmen were excited when they learnt about this.
“They are trying to also avoid the situation whereby they will begin to be forced to return money to the governors after getting it from the Federal Government directly. So, I think they are also not comfortable with it and we guess we will find a way to pass the message through so that they don’t also get into trouble with their governors.”
Abubakar said some governors had also been making attempts to divide the association, adding that leaders of the group were countering such moves.
- Additional reports by: UMAR SANI, ANIMASAHUN SALMAN
