The governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, has announced the creation of 31 new Local Council Development Areas, LCDAs, by his administration.
Aregbesola
Mr. Aregbesola stated this Tuesday in a state broadcast to the people of the state. He said additional 31 Local Council development Areas, 3 area councils and two administrative offices were created.
The governor said his administration would make judicious use of its revenues in a way that increasing the number of councils will least constitute any financial burden.
Mr. Aregbesola also announced the dissolution of the management committees of the existing 30 Local Councils and Area Office, their executive secretaries, deputy executive secretaries, members, special advisers and other functionaries.
The government had sent a request for additional local councils to the state House of Assembly, which later passed the bill.
Speaking on why the state was creating more councils at a time of financial challenges, Mr. Aregbesola said his administration had given the decision sufficient consideration, and had put in place measures to cut cost.
He added that the responsibilities of the new councils include bringing development to the people, managing the markets, generating more revenue, amongst others.
The governor said the state would be saving huge cost with the new councils. He said no new appointment would be made as the same number of staff will still run all the councils.
He said the entire local government system would be managed by Council Managers for three months. The managers are to be appointed and deployed by Local Government Service Commission from among the substantive grade level 14 officers in the local governments.
”Many would be wondering and asking: why create more councils at this special time of financial challenges? We have also given sufficient consideration to this. With this new parliamentary system, it will cost less to run the new councils and save a lot of money for the government than in the past.
“The primary responsibilities of our new local government system are sanitation, market management and revenue mobilisation and generation. This is consistent with local government administration worldwide.
“The beauty of this new system is its parliamentary nature, which requires the chairman and the vice chairman to be elected by the councillors from among their own ranks, thereby saving cost,” the governor said.
The Akwa Ibom State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh governorship election in 18 out of the 31 local government areas of the state.
The Justice Sadiq Umar-led panel, in its judgment, held that over 500,000 registered voters were disenfrachised in the 18 local government areas including Uyo, the state capital, during the April 11 governorship election.
It held the petition filed by Okon Umana of the All Progressives Congress challenging the declaration of Udom Emmanuel of the Peoples Democratic Party as the winner of the April 11, 2015.
An Abuja based Nigerian lawyer, Ojealaro Friday Esq, and the Edo Civil Socieity Organisation have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) over an alleged massive fraud in Edo State.
The petition fingered the state government of allegedly misappropriating the bailout fund N3.167bn, which was given to state government by the Federal Government.
Hon. Osaro Obazee Oredo Local Government Chairman
According to the petition signed and a copy made available to NAIJA CENTER NEWS, the gorup believes in arresting or facilitating the arrest of activities that may hamper the development of the Edo people or harmful to their entire well being.
The petition titled “Colossal fraud Uncovered in Edo State: Passionate Appeal For Your Official Intervention”questioned how the bailout was spent, accusing the state government of starving the Local government financially.
The petition revealed that the protest staged by the five local government councilors that led to the suspension of the five local government by Adams Oshiomhole, was staged managed by the chairmen of the Local Government Council in order to get to the bottom of their shortchanged.
The Petition reads ” For over a year now,both the Edo state government and the Local councils in Edo state have been finding it difficult to pay workers salaries despite the fact that the Federal Government have never defaulted at making good their monthly allocations. Recently,the Federal Government under anti-corruption president Buhari decided to give states financial bailouts from which my state benefited. That was when the cat was let out of the bag.
SUBSTANCE OF OUR COMPLAINT:
We gathered that the state government was not ready to factor the local councils into the disbursements of the Presidential bailout which led the Councillors in Edo State to carry out a protest on behalf of the council chairmen and their constituents to the state house. One of their loudest and shocking demands is that; the state ministry of finance should stop making illegal deductions from their monthly allocations and blackmailing the council chairmen to sign receipt of fraudulent figures. The Councillors argued that,it is the only way,the local councils can pay salaries and meet other governmental commitments to their constituents.
In reaction to this protest,the state governor-Adams Oshiomhole swiftly swung into action by suspending the alleged sponsors of the protest. These are;
(1) Hon. Emmanuel Momoh,Etsako Central Council chairman
(2) Hon. Victor Enobakhare,Egor Council Chairman
(3) Hon. Osaro Obazee, Oredo Council Chairman
(4) Hon. Roland Ibieretonmwen,Orhiomwon Council chairman
(5).Hon. Akeredolu Folorunsho, Akoko Edo Council Chairman
The state government have accused these local council chairmen of corruption and fraud and misappropriation of public funds. However, the council chairmen acting through their spokesman,Hon Osaro Obazee( Oredo local council chairman), have come out to refute the allegation. He denied ever receiving N1,057,604.67(the amount of money the state government alleged he got from FAAC)from January to october,2015. He claimed that he got less than 15% of the alleged sum. He admitted only the receipt of N102,579,700.
All the other local council chairmen including those not suspended all have their version of the story which is clearly irreconcilable with alleged figures being bandied by the Edo state government. Some of them are afraid to speak out like Obazee or else,they will be shown the exit door.
REASONABLE CONCLUSION:
A lot of money running into trillions of naira cannot be accounted for. The state government is saying the council chairmen misappropriated the money. The local council chairmen are saying,they never received such money from the commissioner of finance who manages the joint account of both the state government and the local councils. This is a clear case of missing trillions of naira and Edo people are now helpless. Some are even dying prematurely because of their deplorable economic conditions occasioned by these frauds.
REASON FOR COMPLAINT.
This pervading corruption in Edo state if not arrested and dealt with by a body with the legal status,technical wherewithal and professional expertise,it will continue to injure the well being of Edo people and creating all forms of social unrest. The citizens do not know whom to believe now. Is it the state government or the local council chairmen? We can only know the answer if your esteemed establishment act promptly by carrying out immediate investigations. We want to emphasize ” promptly and immediate” because,if this matter is not attended to now,there might be fraudulent and sinister moves to sweep it under the carpet.
PERSONS DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THIS PETITION AND NEED TO BE QUESTIONED.
(1) Commissioner for Finance,Edo State
(2) Accountant-General,Edo State
(3) Permanent Secretary,ministry of finance, edo state
(4) Commissioner for local government areas affairs,edo state
(5) All the Local council chairmen mentioned in this petition and any other one that the Commission may deem fit to invite in the circumstances of this investigation.
(6) The various revenue collection contractors in Edo state whether local and state.
(7) Treasurers and secretaries of the local councils who are joint signatories to the councils accounts.
The foregoing is a brief particulars of our petition and we fervently hope and pray that you will employ your usual diligence and investigational prowess to help the Edo people.
Whilst thanking you for your anticipated kind and favourable considerations of our petition,please and kindly accept the assurance of the Highest regard of our Group.
There is financial crisis rocking almost all the local government councils in Edo State. Council workers are weeping and protesting over unpaid salaries, contractors are complaining bitterly that they have not been paid for work done while the people in these council areas are perplexed over the pitiable state of affairs in their Local Government Areas. The Comrade Governor in an angry reaction has ordered salaries and other allowances of council office holders including security votes of the chairmen to stop until all outstanding salaries owed the workers are paid. This is certainly not the best of times for council officials or workers.
Osagie Ize-Iyamu
What is however the problem? Those who want to trace this crisis to the dwindling federal allocation are not being sincere as the crisis of unpaid salaries predates the problem of reduced allocation from the centre. If Edo State Government can still pay salaries to their workers regularly, the local government councils need to confess the real reasons behind their inability to discharge their statutory obligations. While the State Government is still paying some contractual obligations, projects at the local government level have virtually ceased. What has happened to their funds and why have things been allowed to degenerate to this absurd level? Does the ministry of local government still exist and do they monitor the income and expenditure of the councils apart from helping them to share the monthly allocation that is sent through a joint state and local government account.
The local government councils as the third tier of government have an important role to play in grassroot development and apart from paying salaries to workers and primary school teachers, have specified functions to perform like tarring and maintenance of side roads, construction and maintenance of markets, motor parks, cemeteries, abattoirs, primary schools, health centres, skill acquisition centres, etc. To be able to discharge these responsibilities, the 774 councils nationwide, are recognised in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and are given monthly allocations from the Federation account. They also have a statutory right to collect revenue in their council areas to complement the federal allocation.
When former president Olusegun Obasanjo stopped federal allocation to Lagos state over a disagreement about new local government councils, the old councils survived because of the revenue they generated internally. We are aware that the Federal government has not defaulted in remitting allocation to the states for distribution to the local governments and that is why the financial mess of the local councils in Edo state is puzzling. We can also not see any significant project that could have gulped the council resources to justify their present predicament. Some councils have tried to explain that their personnel costs especially the payment of teachers salaries is higher than their total revenue receipts hence their deficit financial positions. While it is true that a few councils suffer this burden, none of them have seriously addressed this problem by attempting to expand their revenue base. In the past, there were incentives from the state government for local councils with the highest internally generated revenue but today the only focus of council administrators is the federal allocation and how to share it. A lot of touts and political jobbers have forcefully taken over the revenue collection duties of the local governments leaving the councils totally impoverished. Council officials who have been courageous enough to confront this illegality have been warned by political chieftains to steer clear or risk suspension.
The state government in their own quest to increase internally generated revenue have also encroached and hijacked revenue areas meant for local governments leaving these councils even poorer. The state government is also by law expected to give a certain percentage of their internally generated revenue to all the local government councils. We understand that the state government has never complied and so we appeal to them to obey the law and pay the councils the arrears of these monies. It was nice to hear the governor declare that local government funds are not tampered with in Edo state but we wish to advise the governor for the sake of his integrity to add the caveat `to the best of his knowledge’. We say so in good faith because we are aware that the governor does not preside over the joint allocation meetings where council funds are shared and so he cannot be absolutely certain of what goes on there. It is a notorious fact that under the guise of statutory deductions, council funds are brazenly sliced to ridiculous levels. We call on the governor to investigate previous allocations and the genuineness of past statutory deductions.
The ministry of local government must wake up and play a more effective supervisory role rather than compounding the financial situations of the councils. Allocations from the joint account to councils must be transparently published just as allocation from the federation account are published so that monies going to councils are known and the difference between what comes from Abuja and what is given by the state highlighted with reasons. Project costing and approval requests sent from councils to state must be well scrutinised and even after approval, proper monitoring must be done to ensure quality completion .
As the states appreciate the federal government for financial bailout, the local councils have no choice for now than to also look up to the state government for bailout. Council workers cannot wait indefinitely for the payment of their wage arrears. The state government by virtue of their supervisory role of the local governments must hold itself partially responsible for the financial mess of these councils and so while bailing them out, must devise means to check further and future excesses. The local government councils must complement the efforts of the State government and not be a minus.
