The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Local government councils

  • FG, States, LGs share N619.857bn for February

    A total of N619.857 billion has been distributed as federal allocation for the month of February 2019 among the Federal, States and Local Government Councils.

    A communiqué by the Technical Sub -Committee of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the end of its February meeting, indicated the gross statutory revenue received was N478.434 billion.

    This sum is lower than the N505.246 billion received in the previous month by N26.812 billion.

    Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, the Director of Funds in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) Mr. Muhammed Usman, said “Federation Crude Oil Export sales increased by about 46 percent resulting in increased Federation Revenue from $425.00 million previously to $574.95 Million.

    “Shut-in and Shut-down persisted while some Terminals remained closed due to leaks and maintenance.

    “Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) increased significantly while Companies Income Tax (CIT) recorded a marginal increase. Revenues from Value Added Tax (VAT), Oil Royalty, Import and Excise Duties decreased in February, 2019.”

    Read also: NNPC’s $1.7b debt to FAAC

    The distributable Statutory Revenue for the month is N478.434 billion.

    The total Revenue distributable for the current month (including VAT, Exchange Gain, Excess Bank Charges recovered and Forex Equalization) is N619.857 billion.

    Therefore, from the total distributable revenue for the month, the Federal Government received N257.681 billion representing 52.68 percent; States received N169.925 billion representing 26.72 percent; Local Government Councils received N127.722 billion representing 20.60 percent while the Oil Producing States received N50.946 billion also representing 13 percent derivation revenue.

    Muhammed Usman also disclosed that “the balance in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) as at 27th March, 2019 is $183 million.

  • Edo Local Councils share N2.146bn for August

    Edo Local Councils share N2.146bn for August

    The Edo Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC) on Wednesday said that the total allocation for the 18 Local Government Councils in the state for the month of August was N2, 146,235,377.

    Head of Owan East Local Government Administration, Mr. Akeena Ade-Akhani, presented the figures after the JAAC Meeting presided over by Governor Godwin Obaseki, at the Government House in Benin City.

    He said the amount spent on mandatory expenditures was N1, 440, 618, 407, which includes N1, 091, 012, 888 for teachers’ salary, while the distributable sum left for the 18 local councils was put at N705, 616, 970.

    Ade-Akhani added that the sum of N212, 879,888 was used for the payment of local government pensioners.

    He further said that the meeting reviewed the use of electronic-system for revenue collection in the state which has recorded appreciable success and emphasized that the state government was not deducting any money from the local government allocations.

  • LG Election: Kaduna SIEC to recruit 25,000 ad-hoc staff

    LG Election: Kaduna SIEC to recruit 25,000 ad-hoc staff

    The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KAD-SIECOM) says it would engage no fewer than 25,000 ad-hoc staff, to conduct election into the 23 local government councils in the state.

    Prof. Andrew Nkom, KAD-SIECOM Commissioner for Public Affairs and Information, made the disclosure to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Kaduna.

    NAN reports that preparations for the local government polls was coming barely two years, after the APC-led administration of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, took over the affairs of the state.

    When Gov. El-Rufai assumed office in May 2015, he promised to run an autonomous local government system, with funds disbursed directly to the council accounts.

    However, the local council areas had so far been run by Interim Committees, appointed after every six months by the state government.

    El-Rufai said, recently, that the local government elections would be conducted within the next four months.

    Meanwhile, Nkom said that the ad-hoc staff would include Local Government and Ward Returning Officers, as well as supervisors, in the state’s 255 wards.

    He also said that four ad-hoc staff would be deployed to each of the 5,108 polling units, to ensure successful election.

    According to him, the ad hoc staff would include presiding officers and their assistants, as well as polling clerks and their assistants.

    Nkom said the commission would provide about 6,000 electronic voting machines for the elections, expected to hold later in the year.

    “We have advertised and forms have been deployed to each of the 23 local government areas, for interested and qualified persons to fill, free of charge.

    “Applicants who completed the forms will be selected from the local governments’ areas, because they are conversant with the terrain.

    “The successful candidates would undergo training in various areas to conduct a successful election in the 23 local government areas in the state,” the official said.

    He noted that some of the ad-hoc staff would be trained on how to operate the electronic voting machines, and the commission’s computers.

    According to him, the commission has acquired some prototype of the electronic voting machines, for the training of the ad-hoc staff, ahead of the local council polls.

    Nkom said the commission had concluded arrangements to procure 6,000 electronic voting machines from China, for the elections.

    NAN reports that no fewer than 301 seats comprising 23 chairmanship and same number of vice-chairmanship, as well as 255 councillorship positions, would be contested for during the exercise.

     

  • Tambuwal dissolves 23 LG caretaker committees

    Tambuwal dissolves 23 LG caretaker committees

    Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State on Thursday approved the immediate dissolution of the 23 local government caretaker committees in the state.

    Similarly, all the secretaries of the councils were relieved of their appointments.

    This is contained in a statement by the Governor’s spokesman, Imam Imam, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Sokoto.

    The statement said Directors of Personnel Management in the councils were directed to take over the leadership of their local governments.

    Meanwhile,  Tambuwal has approved the appointment of Prof. Bashir Garba as the new Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

    Until his new appointment, Bashir was the Rector of the state polytechnic.

    Born on June 6, 1966 in Minanata area of Sokoto, Garba holds a Ph.D in Applied Chemistry, Msc in Applied Organic Chemistry, PGD in Management and Bsc in Applied Chemistry.

    He attended Magajin Rafi Primary School, Sokoto, from 1973 to 1979; Government Secondary Technical School, Talata Mafara, from 1979 to 1984; Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto and University of Jos.

    The new SSG served as the Director of Sokoto Energy Research Centre of the Usmanu Danfodio University between 1999 and 2005.

    Tambuwal also appointed Alhaji Abdullahi Danko as the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Public Affairs, and Hajiya Aisha Musa Maina as SSA on New Media.

    Danko, was a former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Sokoto State council.

    Until his appointment, he was the Director of News in Rima Radio, Sokoto.

    Hajiya Aisha is the current State Chairperson of the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Sokoto State Chapter.

  • Osun Speaker urges local councils to improve IGR

    Osun Speaker urges local councils to improve IGR

    The Speaker of Osun House of Assembly, Mr Najeem Salaam, has urged the 30 local governments in the state to increase their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    This is contained in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Goke Butika, and made available to newsmen in Osogbo on Thursday.

    He said the local governments should not continue to depend on allocations from the Federation Account to finance their operations.

    Salaam also advised the Local Government Service Commission and the Ministry of Local Government to, as a matter of urgency,
    fashion out ways through which the councils could improve their finances.

    Salaam said the Assembly, through its standing Committee on Local Government Affairs, would also monitor the councils.

    He advised each council to develop its agricultural potential so as to generate revenue for the development of the area.

  • Wike inaugurates LG caretaker committee

    Wike inaugurates LG caretaker committee

    … APC kicks

    The All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State chapter, has kicked against the decision of Governor Nyesom Wike to hurriedly inaugurate members of the caretaker committees in 22 of the state’s 23 local government areas, contrary to the order of the National Industrial Court (NIC), sitting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

    The NIC earlier gave an order restraining Wike from dissolving the 22 Rivers councils, pending the determination of the suit filed by the chairmen.

    Rivers APC, through its Chairman, Chief Davies Ibiamu Ikanya, Friday in Port Harcourt, insisted that the setting up and Wike’s Thursday night’s inauguration in Government House, Port Harcourt of the caretaker committee members were illegal.

    The Rivers Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Felix Obuah, however, described as a step in the right direction, the dissolution of the 22 councils, through a ruling of the Federal High Court (FHC), Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi, including the screening of the caretaker committee members by the state’s lawmakers and their inauguration by Wike around 10 p.m. on the same Thursday.

    The tenure of the chairman and councillors of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni LGA of Rivers state will expire next year and not affected by the dissolution.

    Prior to Thursday morning’s sitting of the FHC, there was an explosion at the premises of the FHC, which led to pandemonium, with the people around scampering to safety, but no life was lost, while Justice Akanbi still went ahead to deliver the ruling.

    Wike immediately sent names of members of caretaker committees for the 22 LGAs to the state’s House of Assembly, led by Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani and they were quickly screened by the 32 lawmakers, consisting of 31 PDP and one APC members.

    The chairmen of the dissolved councils, under the aegis of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers chapter, which has as its chairman, Chimbiko Iche Akarolo, of the Port Harcourt City LG Council, on Thursday, after Justice Akanbi’s ruling, proceeded to the National Industrial Court in Yenagoa, where they obtained an order of stay of execution, restraining Wike from implementing their sack, but was ignored by the Rivers governor.

    Rivers APC said: “Wike, last (Thursday) night, appointed and sworn in caretaker committees for 22 Local Government Councils in Rivers State, presumably based on the illegal pronouncements of Federal High Court One, sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi.

    “The APC will like to unequivocally state that the ruling by Justice Akanbi on Thursday was illegal and, to that extent, unacceptable to the party. Our rejection of the illegal ruling is based on facts.

    “On April 29, 2015, Justice Akanbi acknowledged that he was on notice that the jurisdiction of his court was on appeal by counsel to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the Rivers State Government and therefore adjourned the matter sine die (indefinitely), pending the outcome of the appeal at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt. Consequently, all parties retreated to wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal, fixed for October 12, 2015, for which all parties are already on hearing notice.

    “The application to join by the APC, which Justice Akanbi turned down, was appealed and that appeal is still pending at the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt. There is a subsisting court order in suit number: NICN/YEN/26/2015 by the National Industrial Court, Yenagoa, preventing the Rivers Governor and other parties from undertaking any action to dissolve the 22 councils and/or remove the chairmen and councilors from office. Both courts have co-ordinate jurisdiction.

    “Justice Akanbi cannot reverse his earlier decision to adjourn sine die and reopen the matter without the Court of Appeal dispensing with the matter of jurisdiction before it and other pending appeals, followed by service of hearing notice to all parties in the matter.

    “Based on these facts, the APC rejects the illegal ruling, purportedly given by Justice Akanbi dissolving local government councils in Rivers State. We urge the council chairmen, councilors and members to reject and not to recognise anyone parading himself/herself/themselves as caretaker chairmen and members in the 22 local government councils.”

    The APC in Rivers also called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase; the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS); the new Rivers State Commissioner of Police, Chris Okey Ezike; and all other security agencies to be on notice to continue to provide security for the duly-elected chairmen and councilors, as the only legitimate persons in charge of the 23 local councils of Rivers state (all the 23 LG chairmen belong to the APC), which it said would prevent APC members across the state from being forced to resort to self help.

    It will be recalled that the sacked members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers chapter, recently accused Justice Akanbi at a news conference in Port Harcourt, of being bribed by Wike, a former Minister of State for Education and Chief of Staff to ex-Governor Rotimi Amaechi, to ensure their removal from office.

    The Rivers ALGON members also sent a petition against Justice Akanbi to the National Judicial Council (NJC), calling for his dismissal for unethical conduct and corruption.

  • Lalong dissolves Plateau local councils

    Lalong dissolves Plateau local councils

    Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau, on Monday dissolved the 17 Local Government Councils in the state.

    A statement issued in Jos by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Rufus Bature, said that the dissolution was in exercise of the powers conferred on the governor by the Constitution.

    It directed the local council chairmen, councilors and other political appointees to handover all government property in their care to Directors of Personnel Management (DPM) in the councils.

    It would be recalled that the local government chairmen and councilors were elected into office in February 2014.

    “The governor directs all dissolved chairmen of councils; all members of the executive arm, councilors and other political appointees to hand over all government properties in their possession to directors of personnel management.

    “Security operatives in the various local governments and particularly the Divisional Police Officers and members of the various labour unions are to ensure that all government properties are secured in the custody of the DPMs,” it said.

    The statement further said that the governor has approved the appointment of Mrs. Hulda Fwangchi as the new Head of Service of the State to replace Mr Ezekiel Dalyop.

    Until her appointment, Mrs. Fwangchi was a Permanent Secretary with the Plateau Government.

    Lalong, according to the statement, thanked members of the dissolved councils and the former head of service for their selfless services and wished them well in their future endeavours.

    It added that the governor assured them that their wealth of experience would be relied upon from time to time in the course of governing the state.