Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory, Abuja, have pocketed or diverted over N15 trillion federal allocation meant for local governments areas in the last 12 years, depriving the nation’s third tier of government funds for desperately needed developmental projects, data analysed by Dataphyte has shown.
Although that amount was allocated to the 774 local government areas in the country, there is no public information on what portion each local government received.
Local governments are a fundamental part of Nigeria’s political system, and should be closest to the people than the states and federal government. Yet, for years, revenues that should go to them have ended up with their state governments. This has happened because there is no real autonomy for that level of government, and its heads are often hand-picked by state governors.
Based on analysis of the 12-year data sourced from the websites of the National Bureau of Statistics and the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation, about N15.5 trillion (N15,505,489,701,816) has been transferred to the 36 states and the FCT on behalf of the 774 local government councils of the country.
Data Analysis
Based on available data, an average of N20 billion accrued to local governments in Nigeria between 2007 and 2012, with the least council having a total of N12.8 billion and the highest having N56.3 billion.
The monthly LGA transfer is the statutory allocation distributed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee. While Abuja Municipal with the highest allocation has had a monthly average of N391.1 million or an annual average of N4.69 billion, Ifedayo local government in Osun State, with the least allocation, received a monthly average of N88.56 million or an annual average of N1.06 billion.
Lagos, Abuja LGs tops earners list
Based on analysis of the 12-year data sourced from the websites of the National Bureau of Statistics and the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation, about N15.5 trillion (N15,505,489,701,816) has been transferred to the 36 states and the FCT on behalf of the 774 local government councils of the country.
Based on available data, an average of N20 billion accrued to local governments in Nigeria between 2007 and 2012, with the least council having a total of N12.8 billion and the highest having N56.3 billion.
The monthly LGA transfer is the statutory allocation distributed by the Federation Account Allocation Committee. While Abuja Municipal with the highest allocation has had a monthly average of N391.1 million or an annual average of N4.69 billion, Ifedayo local government in Osun State, with the least allocation, received a monthly average of N88.56 million or an annual average of N1.06 billion.
As revealed in the chart, 13 out of the 20 top receiving local governments are from Lagos alone.
A further drill down shows that not less than 15 of the 25 local governments that receive the most from the distribution in the last 12 years are from Lagos. The obvious reason for this perhaps is the population preference given to the allocation of resource revenue. A prominent principle used in sharing FAAC is the populationof the local and state governments in the country.
However, only eight of the 13 local governments from Lagos would qualify on a nominal basis because they are among the 20 most populated local governments. It is unclear the rationale that drove the inclusion of the other five
Some of the 20 most populated local governments like Nasarawa, Maiduguri, Ifo, Port-Harcourt, Ado-Odo/Ota, Surulere (Oyo State), Bauchi, Obia/Akpor, Jos North, Idemili North, Igabi did not make the list for other reasons only the RMAFC can explain as the commission
The general notion about federal allocation is that aside from population factor, 13 per cent derivation, a concession given to oil-producing states, determine how much more a state and its local government get compared to counterparts.
An interesting insight from the analysis, however, reveals none of the local governments from the oil-producing states made the top 20 receivers list even when the local governments are among the most populous. For instance, the 2006 population census puts Port-Harcourt (538,558) and Obia/Akpor (462,350) local government in the 11th and 16th most populated local governments in Nigeria respectively.
Port-Harcourt, the capital of Rivers State, only made the bottom of the top 25 while Obia/Akpor was down at 42nd as per top earners. So why did these local governments not make the top earners list?
Possible reasons
The oil-producing states, especially those in the Niger Delta have continued to describe the nature of federal allocation to their regions as unfair and inequitable given the fact the revenue mainstay, crude oil, comes from their regions.
In a recent report, the governor of Bayelsa, Seriake Dickson, expressed the frustration that his state, as well as other Niger Delta states, are not given the control of their resources among other Federal controls such as oil licencing.
Though the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) strives to provide data on federal allocation about two months after the disbursement, the data tend to assume every Nigerian understands how the allocation committee came about the values.
NEITI’s Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement, FASD, on the other hand tries to show the aggregate breakdown as seen in the image below. However, it can be assumed that the values of this criteria change, and citizens and policymakers— at least at the local government level—do not have supporting documents to help them understand the recurring breakdown.
The implication is that the 774 Nigerian local governments are forced to rely on assumptions from historical data when factoring federal revenue into their budget planning, as they lack supporting documents that explain the decision making process federal allocations.
Way forward
A key development in social accountability arena of Nigeria is the use of public data to demand accountability and unearth corruption in the Nigeria budgetary and procurement process.
There is hardly any local government budget in the public space, which may allude to the lack of any municipal level of budget planning and implementation. This hampers grassroots development and constitutes the usurping of the constitutional role of local governments by state and federal governments of Nigeria.
Closely related is the need for civil society advocacy and citizen education to drive grassroots demand for transparency and accountability in the disbursements and management of local government allocation. This would involve the publishing of statements of account showing receipts of transfers into local governments’ accounts and monitoring the implementation at the level of councillors and caretaker committees.
Culled from: PremiumTimes
