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Tag: local govts

  • Expert blames federal, state, local govts for PRA 2014 non-compliance

    Governments at the Federal,  state and local level have remained a problem to the successful administration of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), a pension expert, Ivor Takor, has said.

    Takor, a lawyer and Executive Director, Centre for Pension Right Advocacy, said several acts of noncompliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014 call for the Civil Society, which include the labour movement, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Industrial Unions to take action against the government.

    He noted that while Lagos, Kaduna, Edo and a few other states must be singled out for commendation for implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), many other states are yet to comply with the law.

    He stressed that Lagos stood out as the face of the CPS even better than the Federal Government, adding that the CPS is running smoothly in the private sector as workers who retire from the sector are paid as and when they retire.

    Takor said: “The challenge of the scheme is in the public sector; federal and states, where workers for some years now are not being paid as and when they retired. The crisis facing Federal Government retirees emanated from the fact that the Federal Government has not been funding the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account in the Central Bank of Nigeria as it ought to. The bulk of retirement benefits of employees, who were in employment before the reform in 2004, is in the accrued rights. For example, benefits from date of their first employment, up to June 2004, the date of the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme.

    “The second issue militating against employees in the federal public service is that of delays in the remittance of contributions into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of employees and implementing the new rates of contribution of 12 per cent and 8 per cent for the employer and employee respectively, which came into effect from June 2014. These are acts of noncompliance with the provisions of the Pension Reform Act 2014.

    “As at the last count, only about 10 state governments have either enacted pension laws or are at various stages of enacting pension laws for their employees. More disturbing is the fact that even those that have enacted their own pension laws, thereby keying into the CPS, operate the schemes in default of their own laws. Is anyone, therefore, surprise that most states government are owning their workers’ pensions for upward of 2 to 3 years, while those that pay, pay what they like not based on any law?

    “Lagos, Kaduna, Edo and a few other states must be singled out for commendation for keying into and implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme. Without any fear of contradiction, Lagos State stands out as the face of the Contributory Pension Scheme even above the Federal government.”

    “I call on the Civil Society, which include the labour movement, represented by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Industrial Unions, to have a major role to play as they remain the voice of the voiceless of this nation. The movement therefore, has to organise and mobilise the full potentials of its vast membership to stand united against the deliberate pauperisation of workers and their families by the predatory political ruling class and the vested interest of unregulated capital by ensuring that the pension rights of workers in the public and private sectors are protected.

     

  • Federal, states, local govts share N701b

    The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday shared N701.022 billion to  the three tiers of government as federal allocation for May, 2018.

    The figure was described as “an improvement from N626.8 billion shared in April” by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa Dutse .

    While addressing reporters at the end of the FAAC meeting in Abuja yesterday,  Dr Dutse said the Federal Government got N289.045 billion, states got N181.963 billion, while the Local Government Areas received NN137.327 billion. The 13 per cent mineral revenue for oil producing states stood at N49.756, while the cost of revenue collection and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) refund N42.932 billion.

    Dutse also disclosed that the Excess Crude Account (ECA) balance now stands at $1.911 billion after N24.5 billion savings was added to it. Itvwould be recalled that the Federal Government had withdrawn about $1billion from the account to purchase aircraft to tackle insurgency in the country.

    Also, an additional N11.269 billion was received from NNPC after April FAAC and it was distributed accordingly. “We are having discussion with the NNPC to reconcile figures and will be resolved soon,” he said.

    From the breakdown of the Net Statutory revenue; the Federal Government received N276.535 billion representing 52.68 per cent; states received N140.262billion representing 26.72 per cent; Local Government Areas received N108.136billion representing 20.60 per cent; while the Oil Producing States received N49.756billion also representing 13 per cent derivation revenue.

    Furthermore, from the available revenue from Value Added Tax (VAT), Federal Government received N12.510billion representing 15 per cent; states received N41.701billion representing 50 per cent while the Local Government Areas received N29.190 billion also representing 35per cent.

    The Technical sub -Committee of FAAC at the end of the meeting indicated that the gross statutory revenue received for the month was higher than the N480.599billion received in the previous month by N132.458 billion. Crude oil export sales volume increased by 64 per cent when compared with the 7.72million barrels from the previous month, resulting in increased revenue from Federation Crude Oil Export Sales by $226.90million.

  • ‘Fed Govt, states, local govts share N1.9tr’

    The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N1.938 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of this year.

    The cash shared represented an increase of 37.3 per cent when compared with N1.411 trillion shared during the same period last year and 71.1per cent of the N1.132 trillion shared in the same quarter of 2016, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), has said.

    A breakdown of the FAAC allocations showed that the Federal Government received N812.8 billion; the 36 states got N683.4 billion, while N393.3billion went to the 774 Local Governments Areas. A further breakdown showed that N655.2 billion was disbursed by FAAC in January, N635.6 billion in February, and N647.4 billion in March this year.

    A statement endorsed by NEITI’s Director of Communications and Advocacy, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, explained that the information was contained in the latest edition of the NEITI Quarterly Review by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

    He said the publication observed that even with increasing trends in the revenue disbursements to the three tiers of government, the disbursement in the Q1 of this year was still 25.6per cent lower than the N2.6 trillion disbursed during the same period in 2013 before the crash in global oil prices.

    According to him, the report projected brighter prospects for higher revenue disbursements for the rest of the year because of rising oil prices, which he noted currently hovered around $70 per barrel, in addition to the increase in oil production.

    The report however called for caution while celebrating the cash disbursed in Q1 2018 because of the volatility of the international oil market. “The year started on a bright note as all tiers of government received higher revenues than corresponding quarters in the past two years. This was largely on the account of sustained increase in domestic oil production and global oil prices,” the statement added.

    On allocations received by each state, the report revealed that Akwa Ibom got the highest with N50.44 billion while Osun State received the lowest net share of N4.99 billion, a change of 920per cent between the highest and the lowest the statement added.

    The  report explained that the disparities in FAAC disbursements suggested differences in revenue capacities of different states and the implications for expenditure decisions in the affected states.

    According to the statement, there were concerns about the relationship between the projected revenues of states and their proposed budgets. “The budget of all the states completely outstriped their projected total revenues,” the report stated. For instance, the publication observed that the gap between projected total revenues and budgets is small in some states like Kano, Enugu, Delta and Bayelsa. In these states, projected revenue is at least 60percent of the budgets.

    However, in about 18 states, projected revenue was less than 40 per cent of budgets. Examples are in the 2018 budgets of Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River and Ebonyi states, the statement added. Other states were Imo, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara).The report described the situation in Cross River State as chronic as its projected total revenue only constituted  four per cent of the proposed budget it stated.

     

     

    “These conditions would ultimately result in a situation where the states would either not be able to execute their budgets or have to increase borrowing,” the report noted.

    Ogbonnaya said the NEITI Quarterly Review, designed to provide timely information and data, was a tool to support citizens’ engagement, advocacy, promote constructive debate, information sharing and enlightenment in tracking the utilisation of the funds for purposes of development.

    He added that NEITI’s interest in FAAC disbursements and the statutory recipients is in view of the fact that more than 50per cent of the funds were derived from the extractive industry.

  • Local govts get Ag Auditor-General

    Lagos State Government has named Mrs Abimbola Abolarin as Acting Auditor-General for local governments.

    Abolarin’s appointment followed the retirement of h Musibau Olatunji Jimoh,  who occupied the office between 2014 and 2018.

    Speaking at Jimoh’s retirement and 60th birthday at Haven Event Centre, Ikeja, t Lagos State Audit Service Commission Chairman Alhaji Waliu Onibon announced the transition of leadership as directed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.

    He said: “Today is a great day for Musibau Jimoh but, news has surfaced. I have been directed by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to announce the appointment of Abimbola Abolarin as the acting Auditor-General of Local Governments of Lagos State.”

    He urged Mrs Abolarin to improve on the global standard of auditing achieved by her predecessors.

    Jimoh congratulated Mrs Abolarin, describing her as a round peg in a round hole.

    Mrs Abolarin thanked the governor for her appointment.

    Before her appointment, she was the Director, Project and Inter-Governmental Relations in the Auditor-General’s office.

  • NLC rejects APC panel’s proposal on minimum wage, local govts

    NLC rejects APC panel’s proposal on minimum wage, local govts

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has rejected the aspects of the recommendations of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Committee on True Federalism that states should fix their own minimum wage and the scrapping of local government councils as a tier of government.

    The Congress said it would mobilize Nigerians to reject the proposals.

    NLC President Ayuba Wabba said the recommendation was a contradiction to the global best practices and the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which Nigeria is a signatory to.

    He said: “That cannot happen because it will contravene our constitution and the ILO convention which Nigeria is a signatory to because minimum wage is on the exclusive legislative list globally.

    “That is to tell you the type of people we are dealing with. That is not acceptable to us because it contravenes all known laws and procedures as minimum wage cannot be determines by a state. You can see in the case of the governors that their own wages is not determined by their states, but by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission.

    “But that makes that of the workers even more compelling because there is a global standard. Most countries of the world, including the United States has a minimum wage law that is national. States can fix above the national, but they cannot fix below what is proscribed as the national minimum.”

    On the recommendation that local government be scrapped as a tier of government Wabba “that is even a contradiction because they are contradicting themselves. Anywhere around the world, even in the United States, you have the county.

    “In the context of Nigeria, if you look at the history of our development, the local government has played a very essential role in making sure that development is taken to the grassroots.

    “The governors have actually been the problem of the local government because they have been the ones utilising the funds of those local governments. They have also usurped the economic, social and political powers of the local government. That is why they want to continue in that light and that cannot take us anywhere.

    “I am sure that our National Assembly members will rise up to the challenge. So, our agitation will start immediately because we have rejected all of that and we are going to engage the process seriously. ”

    But the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, described as commendable the recommendations of the Governor Nasir El-Rufai Committee.

    The IYC said the committee to reasonable extent accommodated some of the agitations of the Ijaw.

    The IYC Secretary General, Mr. Alfred Kemepado, in a statement, commended the courage and understanding behind the timely recommendations.

    But he expressed fears of the sincerity of the party and the Federal Government to pursue the implementation of the recommendations.

    He said: “The recent recommendation by the El-Rufai-led committee on restructuring set up by the ruling party, All Progressive Congress (APC) is commendable. Mostly the aspect that recommends state ownership of onshore mineral resources including oil.

    “This is clearly not the whole of what we want because we desire total control of our resources onshore and offshore, but it is certainly a giant leap towards what we have Aalways agitated for as Ijaw people.

    “We salute the courage and understanding behind this timely recommendation. However, we worry that this may be political and not backed by sincerity. Recently, the federal government promised the cleanup of Ogoni land and till date we have not felt funding of that programme.

    “We were also told that the IOCs would relocate to the Niger Delta and till date we have neither seen the political will nor a memo from the Presidency to ensure their relocation to the Niger Delta.

    “If the APC-led Federal Government is sincere, let them show sincerity by immediately setting up various committees and put to work all stakeholders to ensure the recommendation is achieved in the shortest possible time before the 2019 elections.

    “If not we would see this as a strategic scam. We are also calling on all southern members of the National Assembly to take this up as a project. We call on their colleagues from other parts of the country to support them in this struggle to reposition the country for better productivity”, he said.

    But the The Action Democratic Party (ADP) said  it did not believe the APC was sincere.

    National Chairman of the party, Yabagi Sani said in a statement signed by Director of Media Kayode Jacobs that the new position of the APC on restructuring was a political gimmick.

  • Ogun govt shares assets among local govts

    The Ogun State government has shared assets and liabilities among the 20 local government areas and the newly created 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).

    Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Chief Jide Ojuko, spoke in Abeokuta, the state capital, while receiving the report of the asset-sharing committee, headed by the Permanent Secretary in the Local Government Service Commission, Mr Lateef Owodeyi.

    The commissioner said it was imperative to share the assets among the LCDAs for effective and smooth running of their administrations.

    He said: “The step became necessary to ensure that governance is taken to the grassroots and for the LCDAs to rise to the occasion in the reality of upholding local government administration.”

    Ojuko hailed the committee for properly monitoring and supervising the asset distribution among the councils.

    The commissioner recalled that the committee was set up to identify liabilities and assets, evaluate them and share them among the local government areas and their LCDAs, using the number of wards in each area.

    He said this would facilitate the seamless take-off of the LCDAs, having put necessary machinery of government in place to ensure that dividends of democracy were promptly delivered to the residents across the state.

    Ojuko said: “Let me commend this committee for a job well done. I am impressed by this report and I am sure that by this asset-sharing, our newly created LCDAs can kick off in earnest, having deployed the necessary and human resources to the councils earlier. “

     

     

     

  • Teachers protest against planned return of pay to local govts

    Teachers protest against planned return of pay to local govts

    More than 500 teachers protested in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital yesterday against against any plan to grant autonomy to the local government.

    The teachers said their salary should not be ceded to the councils.

    The teachers, who are members of the Oyo State Wing of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), insisted that payment of primary school teachers and the funding and management of primary schools should not be give to the local government

    The rally took off at the Agodi State Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress  (NLC). It was led by the Chairman, Comrade Niyi Akano. Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Waheed Olojede also joined the protesters.

    The protesting teachers went to the Oyo State Government Secretariat to deliver a protest letter to Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

    Some of the inscriptions on the placards carried by the teachers read: “Nigerian Union of Teachers, Oyo State Wing says no to local government autonomy. Basic education is a right of every child”, “Local government councils do not have the capacity to pay primary school teachers salaries”, “Basic education is a right and must be protected by all”, “Foundation of education in Nigeria under threat again”

    Others read: “Pay teachers regularly for a sustainable primary education”, “Our children’s future must be secured”, “Funding of primary education should be the responsibility of the state and federal government”

    Akano said the rally was not a protest against salaries arrears but a fight for the soul of primary education in the state and the country.

    He said experience had shown that the local government tier lacked the capacity to run and fund primary education effectively, particularly because that is the bedrock of education.

    Olojede maintained that allowing the local governments to take charge of primary school education is a good way of sending the sector back to the woods.

    He recounted that the period between 1990-1994 when local governments enjoyed full autonomy was the worst for the sector as many teachers were at the mercy of council bosses before getting their salaries and entitlements.

    The union leader said should the Federal Government insist on granting autonomy to the local government, issues such as managing, funding and equipping primary schools should be transferred to the state governments.

    He further suggested that payment of primary school teachers’ salaries and entitlements should be left with State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).

    Oyo State Deputy Governor Moses Adeyemo received the protest letter on behalf of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

  • Fed Govt, states, local govts share N467.8b

    Fed Govt, states, local govts share N467.8b

    The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) yesterday shared N467.807 billion among the three tiers of government for last month.

    According to the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, the gross statutory revenue of N331.583 billion received for the month was higher than last month’s N290.163 billiion by N41.420 billion.

    He noted that despite the increase in the average unit price of crude oil per barrel from $44.74 to $52.86, the revenue from Federation Export sales dropped by $6.6 million.

    Addressing a news conference after the meeting in Abuja, Idris attributed the decline to crude oil export volume.

    “Production suffered during the period due largely to leakages in the pipelines arising from sabotage, shut down of terminals for turnaround maintenance and the Force Majure declared at Forcados and Brass Terminals that were still in place.

    “There was, however, a noteworthy increase in revenue from oil royalty. Also, significant increases were recorded from companies’ income tax, import and excise duties and Value Added Tax.”

    The Accountant-General noted that the distributable statutory revenue for the month was N299.930 billion.

    Idris added that N6.330 billion was refunded by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation to the Federal Government.

    The AGF said: “There is a proposed distribution of N22.259billion from Excess Petroleum Profit Tax account. Also, exchange gain of N66.967 billion is proposed for distribution. The total distributable for the current month including VAT is N467.807 billion.”

    The Federal Government received a share of N189.243 billion, states got N127.994 billion and 774 local government areas received N96.000 billion.

    The chairman, Commissioners of Finance Forum, and Commissioner of Finance from Adamawa State, Yinusa Mahmud, said the revenue in the month under review increased by N38 billion.

    “The price of oil is promising and that the federal government is doing much to sustain peace in the Niger Delta,” Mahmud said

  • Local govts ‘should key into education’

    The immediate past governor of Lagos State and now Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola, has urged local governments to play their constitutional role well, adding that they include provision and maintenance of primary, adult and vocational education.

    He made the remark while delivering his keynote address during the book presentation of Prof Oyelowo Oyewo at the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs,Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Oyewo, a former  dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos presented two books: “Modern Administrative Law and Practice in Nigeria and Local government Law: Cases and Materials”.

    Fashola said: ‘’We must conceptualise the change we are making. Local governments have autonomy power. They have been saddled with recommending economic planning and education to the state government. They have been saddled with providing and maintaining primary, adult and vocational education”.

    Fashola said primary school certificate is very important as it forms the bedrock and foundation of education.

    Fashola urged local government chairmen to take their roles seriously because they are closer to the people.

    Oyewo said the books are necessary as they espouse how things could be set right.

    He added that the nation’s constitution needs to be reviewed, adding that certain aspects have overstayed.  Nonetheless, he recommended the books for students, lawyers and the  public.

  • Fed Govt, states, local govts share N429b for Sept

    The federal and state governments will have to brace up for hard times again as the money shared for the month of September this year dipped to N420 billion from N510.2 billion in the previous month.

    Addressing reporters at the end of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja yesterday, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Mahmoud Isa Dutse attributed the decline to the “activities of vandals in the Niger Delta in spite of the appreciation in the price of crude oil in the international market.”

    Dutse lamented that crude oil export volume decreased by 1.5 million barrels in June as a result of the activities of Nigeria Delta vandals and appealed that “we need to do everything possible to normalise things in the Niger Delta.”

    Other reasons for the decline were the force majeure declared at Bonny terminals and the subsisting one at the the Forcados terminal as well as the shut- and shut-down of pipelines for repairs and maintenance.

    Dutse added that there was decrease in the volume of dutiable imports, receipts from Joint Venture (JV) cash call, foreign companies income tax and Value Added Tax (VAT).

    For statutory disbursements in the month of September, the Federal Government got N120.351 billion; state governments received N61.044 billion; local governments were given N47.062 billion while mineral producing states got N13.729 billion.

    In addition, the three tiers of government shared a total of N61.694 billion with the Federal Government receiving N9.254 billion; state governments- N30.847 billion and local governments-N21.593 billion.

    To make up the numbers, an additional N41.402 billion exchange gains accruals and another N63.386 billion excess Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) were shared among the three tiers of government.

    Aside the disbursements, Dutse said the funds in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at $2.454 billion.

    He also expressed optimism that Nigeria’s potential for growth remained high given the recent announcement by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the economy is now larger than that of South Africa. This development he said, “will make us a major destination for investors and it shows that Nigeria is on the part of growth.”

    The Accountant-General of the Federation, (ÀGF) Alhaji Idris Ahmed, attributed Nigeria’s economy overtaking that of South Africa to the massive capital investment made by the Federal Government and reiterated that “we will come out of this recession soon as all the indices and parameters point to this.”

    Edo State Commissioner for Finance and Chairman, Finance Commissioners Forum, Mr. John Inegbedion told reporters that the cost of collection deducted by revenue generating agencies such as the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) were unconstitutional.

    However, he admitted that it was politically agreed by all stakeholders that the agencies should go ahead and receive cost of collection because the Federal Government was not able to fund them properly and that limited their ability to function well.