Map.of Delta State in South South Nigeria
By UCHE MATHEW, Asaba –
A group, Social Action and the Delta State Budget Advocate Committee in collaboration with the United Nation Advocacy Fund has called for scrapping of state/local government joint account, disclosing that over N40 billion received by the 25 local government councils in the state in eight months did not reflect in the communities.
The Coordinator Budget Advocacy Committee Delta State for SOCIAL ACTION, Barr. Odunna Agustina stated this on Monday in Asaba.
Mrs. Augustina said that the dissolution of the joint account was necessary in other to give autonomy to the local governments.
She said, “In January, 2023, the 25 local government areas in Delta state received a total of N5.10 billion as allocation from federal account.
“It means that over N40 billion has so far received in eight months and all things being equal, if this remains, so at the end of the year, about N62.1 billion would have received as allocation to the local governments in Delta state.
“What about the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) they generated and as well as the state’s IGR share to LGAs. As stakeholders, we demand that LGAs in Delta State operates an open, inclusive and participatory budget process
“Yet, nothing on ground to justify what they have received, therefore, it is high time the beam is turned on the leadership of LGA to ask critical questions around our collective resources.
“All the fund received has not translated into meaningful development in communities as was revealed by our monitoring of projects by LGA in Delta”
They demanded that local government should be granted full autonomy to truly function as a tier of government, urging local government in the state to operate an open, inclusive and participatory budget.
The group called on the President Bola Tinubu, the governors of the 36 states and House of Assemblies to as a matter of urgency retransmits and pass the Local Government Autonomy bill into law.
