Dayo Rufai, Abeokuta
As controversy rages on between the Prince Dapo Abiodun led administration and the 20 council chairmen in the state, Gateway Times Nigeria investigation has come out with more facts on the issue.
Though, the affected LG chairmen have been keeping sealed lips on the issue for fear of being summarily framed up and eventually booted out of office, reliable sources confided in Gateway Times Nigeria that the issue of LG allocation deduction is real and incontrovertible.
It was scooped that the very controversial issue was not limited to Dapo Abiodun’s government, but was also the major stumbling block of the Sen Ibikunle Amosun’s eight years tenure in Ogun state.
Discreet investigation has it that both Dapo Abiodun and Amosun’s administration underdeveloped local government administration in the state.
The source said the only time LG administration functioned optimally was during the Osoba and Otunba Gbenga Daniel’s era, when both administrations allowed the third tier of government access to its Federal Allocation and did not disturb its revenue generation capabilities.
Speaking specifically, another close to one of the LG chairmen in Ogun West senatorial district said, Gov Abiodun had taken over the responsibilities of the council chairmen as they were only stipend from the councils’ monthly allocation which runs into several millions.
The source revealed that each LG chairmen only received a paltry sum of #2.5m monthly when Gov Abiodun came on board as Security Votes, but was later increased to N3m following a protest by the Council chairmen.
Breaking it down properly, it was gathered that each council Chairman are to release N300,000.00 to the LG Vice-Chairmen. While a sum of N350, 000 are again deducted for ‘Abeokuta’. The salary of a Council Chairman is pegged at N306,000 in Ogun State.
According to another source, the Internally Generated Revenue sources in each of the LG, which should have been used to develop the council areas have also been taken over by agents of the state government. Tenement rates, Parks and Garages, which are constitutional responsibilities of local governments have been taken over by the state government.
Gateway Times Nigeria further scooped that the only visible projects seen in the various council areas were achieved from the remnants of the IGR or personal purse of the LG chairmen.
Sources who are abreast of the happenings in the LG areas also faulted claims of the Dapo Abiodun’s government that no dime is being deducted from the council’s allocation.
They however challenged Gov Abiodun to publish the exact figures that are given to the LG chairmen from the allocation monthly, stressing that the LG areas will remain underdeveloped throughout the tenure of the present Governor if such trend persists.
Meanwhile, the governor again on Friday refuted the allegation that his administration has been taking 30 percent of funds meant for local government areas in the State.
He explained that instead of taking funds from the local government, his administration has been given the LGs between N200m to N300m on a monthly basis to augment their allocations in to enable them meet their financial obligations.
“No local government in Ogun State has access to Federal Allocation. NULGE can confirm that. It is the state government that keeps all the money and disburses same every month as salaries and others. Not one local government can unilateral decide on capital projects. They cannot plan or even do anything at all,” an authoritative source of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), who spoke anonymously said.
The governor noted that his administration has remained firm in the distribution of funding to all the tiers of government, maintaining that the rumors of depriving local government of fund is completely unfounded.
“We have continued to support our local government administration every month. We ensure that we give them a minimum amount to allow them to function because their allocations over the last six months had not been enough to meet their expenses let alone execute any capital project.
“As a responsible administration, we continue to bail them out every month to the tune of N200m to N300m a month because they are the closest to the people and they must function.
“We also have a sharing formula which allows us to take all the generated funds in transport, land use and 20 percent of that is allocated back to the local government. When they say that we deprived the local government the revenue is not true.
“Whatever is generated is spent judiciously and we ensure that there is a fair and equitable distribution of infrastructure which can be seen across the length and breadth of the state,” Abiodun stated.
He, however, observed that the centrality of the Egba Division and its people cannot be overemphasized in the development plan for the socio-economic valve of the state, stressing that the senatorial district apart from being home to the state capital, also acts as the link with other parts of the state.
In his opening remarks, the Economic Adviser and Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Dapo Okubadejo said similar meetings, which had taken place in three other zones, were meant to aggregate the people’s inputs that would form the basis for next year’s budget, appealing to all stakeholders to make meaningful contributions that would lead to a people’s oriented budget.
Commissioner for Budget and Planning Mr. Olaolu Olabimtan, in his presentation, said 68 projects were executed in each of the senatorial districts in the state,emphasizing that no local government area was left out on project allocation and execution.
