The Nation Newspaper

Tag: local govts

  • Lagos, local govts empower 3000 residents

    Lagos, local govts empower 3000 residents

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola and council chairmen have empowered thousands of Lagosians in a bid to tackle unemployment.

    Last Saturday, the council chiefs held a grassroots empowerment programme at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, where over 3000 residents went home with equipment to support their ventures.

    Fashola, represented by the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, lamented the country’s failure to achieve socio-economic and political growth after over 15 years of democratic governance.

    He explained that the vision of state and local government areas is to work together to make the state the pride of the country.

    ”We do not do poverty alleviation but grassroots empowerment. The council chairmen have done well in providing infrastructure for the citizens. They have built roads, schools, hospitals, constructed drainages and empowered the people among other things. I must thank the council chairman for taking care of the grassroots. The councils’ bosses have come together to do the biggest empowerment programme in the country,” he said.

    Fashola expressed the need for the residents to be vigilant in the face of security challenges rocking the country, urging them to continue to be security-conscious to keep the state safe.

    “I want to tell the residents of Lagos that the security of this great state is also their responsibility. We should not leave it for the government alone. We need to support the council chairmen in their programmes so that they can provide the dividends of democracy. We need to be steadfast and do not accept expired rice from some people who claim to love you. These are tactics from the opposition. And I do not want them to scare you with their strategies,” the governor added.

    He explained that Lagos is the only state in the country that did not ban the activities of commercial motorcycle operators, saying it was outright ban in other states controlled by the opposition parties.

    The Chairman of Conference 57, a body of the councils’ bosses, Hon Akeem Sulaiman, explained that the gesture to empower over 3000 grassroots people became necessary because, “poverty seems to have become a natural phenomenon in Nigeria. Successive administrations in Nigeria have made efforts towards poverty alleviation in Nigeria.”

    “It is obvious that most poor people in this country cannot provide for themselves the basic needs of life. The persistence of poverty in the world and indeed in Nigeria has made it imperative for us to embark on some developmental programmes to ensure improved standards of living for the poor masses.

    “As part of measures to empower our people, we will give out fridges, deep freezers, boat engines, generating sets, food stuffs like rice and garri; pop corn machines, mobile phones, spray painters, machine boxes, soft drinks, sewing machine and hair-dressing machines, among others. I urge you to make good use of the goods. Please do not sell them,” he said.

  • New local govts not political trap, says Fayemi

    New local govts not political trap, says Fayemi

    •19 councils get legal backing

    Ekiti State Governor  Kayode Fayemi has said the creation of 19 new Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) is not a political trap for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The governor spoke at Ado-Ekiti yesterday while signing into law the Bill for the Creation of Local Government Areas (2014) following its passage by the House of Assembly.

    Fayemi, at the signing ceremony witnessed by members of the Assembly and Executive Council, said: “This is a promise fulfilled following the yearnings of Ekiti people, yearnings that predated the commencement of our time in office on October 2010. We will all recall that the first executive governor of this State had attempted to create new local government areas before the end of his tenure in office. That was not to be. But our people never stopped requesting for additional local governments in order to bring development closer to them.

    “This is not a political trap for anyone, I must say that. This is without prejudice to whatever transition arrangements that are being put in place because these are minimum irreducible demands of Ekiti people. What we have done is simply fulfil the yearnings of our people, and we hope that succeeding administrations in the state will build on this effort.”

    According to the governor, the new local government areas would come into immediate effect in all the areas affected, “following necessary assets sharing and the necessary implementation of administrative responsibility”.

    Fayemi said transitional political leadership would be appointed for the councils.

  • Fed Govt, states, local govts share N683.8b

    •Excess Crude Account swells to $3.7b

    The three governments in Nigeria shared N683.898 billion for May.

    Addressing journalists in Abuja at the end of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Jonah Otunla, said the distributable statutory revenue for May was N582.934 billion with an additional N35.549 billion proposed for distribution under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

    Otunla also disclosed that the country’s Excess Crude Account has increased from $3.6 billion in April to $3.73 billion in May.

    To arrive at the total distributable figure for May, he said  the sum of N159.688 billion was sourced from excess non-oil revenue as well as proceeds from Value Added Tax (VAT).

    The gross revenue of N844.032 billion was realised for the month of May which was higher than the N584.151 billion received in April by N259.881 billion. Revenue for the month under review grew because of the bulk payment of $1.2 billion made by Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) and the upward review of estimates by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited and other companies.

    However, Otunla noted that oil production was affected negatively by theft, repairs and maintenance of ruptured pipelines.

    The net statutory allocation to the federal, state and local governments was N567.824 billion with the Federal Government pocketing N271.340 billion or 52.68 per cent, states got N137,627 billion or 26.72 per cent, local governments received N106.105 billion or 20.60 per cent while the oil producing states got an additional N52.751 billion under the 13 per cent Derivation Fund.

  • IBB seeks increased revenue allocation to states, local govts

    IBB seeks increased revenue allocation to states, local govts

    Former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, has said true federalism will thrive in the country when there is a devolution of powers from the centre to the federating states and the local governments.

    He advocated an increase in revenue allocation to the states and the local governments.

    Babangida spoke in Minna, the Niger State capital, when the chairman of Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Chief Elias Mbam, led members of his board to the Minna Uphill home of the former military leader.

    He also advocated an increase in revenue allocation to the states and the local governments.

    Though he refused to give a sharing formula, Babangida said his position was informed by the volume of responsibilities at the states and grassroots levels.

    He called for a reduced revenue allocation to the Federal Government from the federation receipts.

    The former military leader also called for the diversification of the nation’s economy by tapping on the huge alternative sources of revenue instead of relying on mono-culture source of revenue (oil), which he said was limited and exhaustive.

    Addressing reporters after a closed-door meeting with the commission’s board members, Babangida said: “I call for the devolution of powers and the diversification of the economy to explore other areas and leave the mono-culture economy of the country.

    “If the responsibilities of the federal, state and local governments are streamlined properly, I think the burden would be light on all Nigerians.

    “If we can operate a leaner government at the federal level and we give more revenue to the local governments and states, then we’re set to be going somewhere.”

    He hailed the RMAFC but cautioned that it had a great task at hand, especially when the last revenue allocation review was done 21 years ago.

    “You have the greatest task ahead of you. It is not an easy task, especially in a country where every action is being politicised. What you are doing requires doggedness and I applaud you all for that,” Babangida told the commission.

    Assuring the nation that RMAFC would submit its recommendation to President Goodluck Jonathan by December, Mbam said the visit to Babangida was part of the consultations with major stakeholders as the commission prepared a new revenue sharing formula.

  • Aregbesola: I’ll create more local govts

    Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola yesterday said his administration would create more local governments because of the desire of the people for self government .

    He spoke while receiving the Osun State Local Government Areas Creation Committee from its chairman, Prof. Mojeed Alabi, at the EXCO chamber of the Governor’s Office in Abere, Osogbo. Aregbesola said the political structure in the country could not be said to be representative of the people.

    He said: “We are simply not ready to confront anybody or the Federal Government, but we are working on the constitution to grant the wishes of our people. Osun will be the first to constitutionally create local governments. We will create councils that will meet all constitutional requirements.

    “The difference between what we are seeking to do from others is that, we have not in, any way influenced this. It is the genuine desire of the people for self-government or expression of having control of their own affairs.”

    The governor said the creation of local governments, according to the 1999 Constitution, is in the hands of the states through the House of Assembly.

    According to Aregbesola, “The only mention of LG in our constitution is the nature of the government and not a tier of government. Local governments can never be a unit of the federation outside the state. It is a contradiction that LG is a tier of government in our own federalism.”

    Prof. Alabi said the committee has recommended 27 new local governments and two Area Offices.

    According to Alabi, “The state government of Osun should create Local Government Areas and not Local Government Development Areas in line with the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria that such Local Government Areas have come into legal existence once a bill to such effect is passed by the state House of Assembly and assented to by the governor.”