By Ayodele Oni
State Govt: “Deductions used to pay salaries, pensions”
Ondo State Government and Local Councils in the state are at loggerhead over monthly allocations to the Third Tier of Government.
The 18 Local Councils are complaining that the State Government still controls funds meant for the Councils, following continued delay in the implementation of autonomy for the Councils.
Going by fund allocation to the Third Tier which comes to between N500 million and N600million monthly, what goes to the Local Councils from the joint account with State is a meagre N4 million monthly.
This has paralyzed execution of projects by the Councils which cannot also meet other obligations to the citizenry.
It was gathered that part of the funds deducted is used to finance the Local Councils Development Authority, (LCDAs), which are yet to receive constitutional backing.
The State Government has denied that it is tampering with the funds, but maintained that what is being deducted from their allocation is used to meet salary and pension obligations of the Councils.
But, the Chairmen allege that they are only entitled to N4 million monthly from FAAC funds, while the substantial part of their funds is controlled by the State Government.
According to one Chairman who spoke anonymously, “You know we are still operating a joint account for the Local Government Funds, and when the FAAC allocation is released, they will disburse what each Local Government is entitled to, but we are made to return the substantial part of the funds into the Ministry of Local Government account, while we are left with N4 million.”
The Chairmen cited an example with some Local Government allocation funds stating that despite receiving huge allocations, they are only entitled to N4 million to run the Councils.
“For instance, in the last FAAC for June, some local governments received N644 million, N590 million, and N405 million. You can verify this from the BudgIT website. So, despite this huge allocation, the Chairmen are only entitled to N4 million to run the Councils.”
However, the Ondo State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Amidu Takuro, dismissed the allegations, describing them as “not true.”
He explained that deductions from Council allocations are statutory, citing payments for workers’ salaries, pensioners, and other government obligations.
“Are they not going to pay the salary of their workers? Is it not still Government paying on their behalf? We have the Local Government Service Commission, we have SUBEB, we have the Pension Board, training schools, loans board. All these are deducted from their own percentage of the money.”
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