By Felix Ofou and Pius Mordi
All the 25 local government areas in Delta State have submitted their financial reports to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) as the Federal Government may enforce the filing of the report as one of major eligibility criteria for continued direct disbursement of allocations from Abuja.
This emerged at the Federation Account Allocation Committee Technical Sub-Committee meeting last week where Delta State’s councils were the only ones of the 774 nationwide to have filed the financial reports to OAGF.
Minutes from the meeting revealed that only Delta State’s 25 local government councils have provided the required account details and have been verified as democratically elected, a prerequisite for receiving direct allocations.
While Delta’s councils were cited at the Federation Account Allocation Committee Technical Sub-Committee meeting as having diligently subscribed to the terms for direct allocation, the failure of all the councils in the rest 35 states and Abuja may precipitate a pause in the implementation of the July 11, 2024 Supreme Court judgement that local government areas in the country should receive allocations directly from the Federation Account.
The OAGF said it has identified two major setbacks in further implementation of the judgement: the failure of many local governments to submit account details and the challenge of verifying which councils have democratically elected leadership.
Only Delta’s councils have fulfilled both requirements with the state cited at the meeting as the only one that taken Supreme Court judgement beyond mere platitudes.
However, the OAGF, in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, said they have begun discussions to resolve these issues.
The Accountant General of the Federation, Oluwatoyin Madein, emphasised the difficulty in determining which local councils have elected chairmen, a prerequisite for receiving direct allocations, noting that without this clarity, the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement remains stalled.
“So far, only local governments in Delta State have submitted their account details. Discussions with the Attorney-General’s office on the submission process are still ongoing,” the minutes stated.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also stepped in, initiating a profiling process for local government chairmen and authorised signatories to their accounts.
The Director of Legal Services at the CBN, Kofo Salam-Alada, explained that filing of the financial reports and verification of the signatories in every council are key requirements that are part of standard Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures to ensure financial accountability and will be enforced.
“This is a standard procedure. Anyone authorised to sign on these accounts must be profiled. The process is ongoing, and we are working closely with the Accountant General’s office,” Salam-Alada stated.
(C) New Media Office
