The Federal Government has been faced with a new hurdle in its efforts to implement financial autonomy for local governments.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that administrative lapses have delayed the latest move by the central government to ensure direct revenue allocation to the 774 local governments from the federation account. The local governments were expected to receive a total of N361.754 billion as their share of distributable revenue from the N1.424 trillion due to the three tiers of government this month.
However, at the just concluded January 2025 Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja, it was revealed that the councils had failed to submit the necessary bank account details required to facilitate the direct payments.
A source familiar with the development attributed the delay to the absence of accounts specifically opened with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for this purpose.
“The structures are yet to be erected,” the source said. “The LGAs have to be coordinated. Those that have opened accounts with the CBN did not submit their details to FAAC for crediting, resulting in the delay.
“If this information is not ready, they will not be paid. But if they produce it, they will be paid.”
Another source suggested that political interference and delay in conducting local government elections in some states may have also contributed to the development. “The LGAs may have been handicapped by the manoeuvring of state governments and the ongoing elections to elect local government officials recognised by law to spend the money,” the source noted.
Meanwhile, FAAC officials expect the local governments to resolve the administrative bottlenecks by the end of the month to enable them to receive their allocations.
The Federal Government has struggled for months to implement financial autonomy for local governments, as directed by the Supreme Court in July 2024.
The court ruling granted financial autonomy to local governments, and the Federal Government had directed the councils to open accounts with the CBN for the purpose of receiving their monthly allocation from the federation account.
Meanwhile, the Director of Press and Public Relations at FAAC, Bawa Mokwa, confirmed that a total of N1.424 trillion, being the Federation Account Revenue for December 2024, was shared by the Federal Government, states, and local governments. The sharing was finalized at the January 2025 meeting of FAAC held in Abuja.
The breakdown of the distributable revenue shows that the Federal Government received N451.193 billion, state governments received N498.498 billion, and local government councils received N361.754 billion. An additional N113.477 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue, was shared among the oil-producing states.
(Politicnrg)