Ogun State government has denied deducting from allocations meant for its 20 local government areas from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) on monthly basis.
The state government, however, said that the state has rather augmented local governments’ allocations with N2 billion in the last six months.
Speaking in Abeokuta, Wednesday, during June 2021 Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting on the alleged diversion of local government allocations, Afolabi Afuape, the commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs, noted that the present administration “operates an open system, which would not hide the facts from its citizens.”
Read Also: Nigerian states share N9trn in 4 years, yet some owe salaries
“This statutory meeting is backed by the constitution, the purpose is to come together and look into the allocation of the local government. This will prevent the misconception that the state government uses councils’ funds. Everybody will have the opportunity to see what comes to LGAs and how it was disbursed”, he added.
He said apart from the augmentation, the state government had also at two different occasions given grants to the local governments to execute people oriented projects, adding that the present administration had promised that councils in the state would not be salary paying centres only, but would also serve the needs of the people at the grassroots.
Earlier, the transition committee chairman of Odogbolu local government, Obafemi Onakoya, said it was expedient that the internally generated revenue (IGR) be improved upon. This, he noted, would help to lessen the dependency of councils on the Federal Government.
