NFIU guidelines: Local gov’t councils in A’Ibom forfeit two months allocations

Abasifreke Effiong

AKWA IBOM – Local Government councils in Akwa Ibom State have not received its allocations for the months of June and July from the Federal Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC).

The 31 local government councils have temporarily forfeited the money to the federal government due to its failure to abide by the new guidelines on receipt of federal allocations dished out by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).

The two months allocations for the councils are stuck up at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The money is held up at the apex bank following the commencement of implementation of the new guidelines on direct allocations to local government councils, issued earlier this year by the NFIU.

The NFIU had fixed June 1 for the commencement of direct allocation to local government councils.

The NFIU has directed respective local government councils to send a bank account each where their allocations can be paid to.

But the Akwa Ibom State government kicked against the directive, saying that it was in violation of the constitution.

Sources who are familiar with the case told our correspondent that local government councils in Akwa Ibom State working under the instructions of the State government ignored the directive and forfeited its allocations to the federal government.

“Directors of finance in the councils were told to ignore the request”, it was learnt.
Our correspoendent gathered that the governor has had to borrow money to pay salaries and other entitlements at the local government councils in the last two months.

“The governor had to borrow money to pay salaries and security votes in June and July. No one knows how he raised the money. But, what I can tell you is that we have received our salaries and security votes”, a member of ALGON in the State confided to our correspondent.

The Akwa Ibom State Government and chairmen of local government councils in the State are in court challenging the constitutionality of the NFIU guidelines.

The plaintiffs had approached a federal high court seeking injunction to stop the federal government from implementing the NFIU guidelines, but were turned down by the court.

Sources said the local government councils will run without releases from the federal government until judgment is given on the case.

The case was jointly filed by the Akwa Ibom State government and the 31 local government chairmen.

However, there are concerns that the State government may plunge the councils into debts arising from interests payable on the facilities obtained by the governor to pay salaries of the councils.

The current local government administration in the State has hardly undertaken any serious development projects in the last 18 months.

Some of the council chairmen are struggling to complete a single point borehole project they started at assumption of office in December 2017.

“The councils have been cash-starved. Since we are not directly in-charge of funds, we can’t do anything,” an elected official in one of the local government councils said.

The official who did not want his name on print claimed that the State government decides how much it gives to each council at the end of the monthly Joint Account Committee (JAC) meeting.

Efforts to get the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Udoh, to speak on the forfeiture of the allocation proved abortive as he did not take his calls for two days and did not respond to questions sent to him through SMS, though he acknowledged receipt of the SMS.

Also, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Udo Ekpenyong did not respond to phone calls from our correspondent as at the time of going to press.