Misuse Of Local Government Revenues In Anambra State By Polycarp Onwubiko, A Retired Director In Anambra Civil Service

                

 It appears that the constitution is not clear on how to strictly checkmate state governors on the unlawful misappropriation and hijacking of local government council funds.

This lacuna has apparently given a leeway to the mindless confiscation of local government monthly statutory allocations and appropriation of the viable sources of internally generated revenues by some state governors.

The impunity has been going on unabated due to the pervasive corruption in all the tiers and arms of government. The constitution stipulates that state governments should be supervising the local government councils through the local government audit, state auditor general, and ministry of local government.

 Thus they should not tamper with their statutory or take over viable sources of revenue generation. The statutory allocations to the third tier of government and their constitutionally guaranteed functions cum sources of internally generated revenue are specifically meant to complement the state government in addressing infrastructural deficit in the communities and semi-urban towns and provide the basic infrastructural facilities like inter and intra village roads, health-care and primary school facilities so as to uplift the living standard of the people. 

    In Anambra State, the immediate past  administration engaged in covert manipulations to stifle local government system by flaunting spurious court obstacles to the conduct of local government election. It left the impression that the essence of the “Joint State/Local Government Account” is to be hijacking the local government council statutory allocations, in addition to refusing to distribute the ten percent of state internally generated revenues to the local government councils as stipulated by the constitution. Instead of elected local government chairmen and councilors, the past administration resorted to posting heads of service of local government councils as Head of Local Government Administration (HLGA) without the enabling annual budgets to capture the needs of the communities as they were denied access to  the local governments sources of revenues.

    When the opposition parties became programme strident, APGA faithful were hand-picked and named “Transition Chairmen” The arrow head of all the local government operations was the local government commissioner who approved money for minor expenditures.

 A monstrous aberration and gross violation of the provisions of the constitution which the government has sworn to uphold. Due to pervasive and incurable corruption in the country which President Goodluck Jonathan has brazenly demonstrated reluctance to checkmate through the ICPC and EFCC, Anambra state brazenly continued to violate the laws on local government administration. 

The frightful consequences of gross violation of the provisions of the constitution on local government administration in hijacking the revenue sources among others include; lack of capacity building for prospective capable political office holders like governors, deputy governors, senators and legislators for the house of representative and state legislature. 

Elected local government council operatives provide the gravitas for creative minds who would penetrate the grassroots and appreciate the basic and prime deep yearnings and needs of the people and make provisions in the councils' annual budgets to be approved by the ministry of local government.

     For the past eight years of the past administration, the living standard and basic infrastructural facilities in the 177 communities in Anambra state did not register any remarkable improvement. In the absence of appropriations in the annual budgets to be prepared by the Chairmen and Councilors, the former governor in his proverbial father Christmas posturing every December since 2007 doled out N1million to the presidents general of town development unions for the so-called palliative rehabilitation of communities roads. 

Again, contrary to any law, traditional rulers were charged with security of the communities and given N500,000.00. Of course the unbudgeted public fund was regarded as windfalls by the unlawful beneficiaries. The illegal and mischievous and crude pattern of administration started in 2007 and the public fund that had gone down the drain was N1.5m x 177 communities x 7 years = N1,858,500,000.00 (N1.9 billion). This amount could have been given to HLGA for a properly planned drainages and tarred roads in communities under their respective jurisdictions.

     This writer wrote a letter to the governor in January 2008 on the gross abuse of public fund by the beneficiaries but latter realized that the gimmickry was to mortgage their conscience for future political manipulations and it paid off handsomely in the governorship and local government elections. The brazen impunity continued and at the tail end of the expiration of the tenure, APGA faithful were hand-picked and deployed as Chairmen and councilors in the name of local government council election in early 2014. 

Governor Willie Obiano should reflect deeply on his international credentials as an accountant and auditor of repute and do the lawful thing so as to leave a worthy legacy and a unique place in history in the administration of Anambra State. 

    Responding to the organized labour questions in a forum during the governorship electioneering campaign, Chief Willie Obiano assured workers that certain unpalatable things like unrealistic salary chart in the new minimum wage and payment of salaries and pensions on the second week of the new month among others would be rectified.

 It was alleged that when the monthly statutory allocation is received, it is placed in a bank fixed deposit and released on the 6th of the next month. There is no reason why workers and pensioners should not be paid before the end of the month even when the state surpasses other South Eastern States in internally revenue profile.

 The Chairmen and councilors in spite of monumental flaws in the election are Anambra people and should be allowed unfettered access to their monthly statutory allocations and reclaim all the sources of internally revenue generation. 

  The chairmen of the local governments are young men with pragmatic developmental paradigms to enhance the living standard of the people. They should be given their statutory allocations to implement their bright ideas on grassroots transformation agenda. They should not be frustrated for not implementing their conceived ideas on the grassroots level of governance. It must be emphasized that the local government council statutory allocations legally belong to the 177 communities and not the state government.

 The people should react and compel the governor to off-hands the local government sources of revenue to be used in developing the communities. For example, Aguata local government ought to be receiving over N200million every month but the communities roads, markets, and other basic infrastructural facilities in health and education sectors are in terrible dilapidated condition. 

The worst is the local government councils in the riverine areas like Anambra East, Anambra West, Ogbaru, Orumba North and South etc. The governor should not try to compete with his predecessor in the so-called “marvelous and monumental infrastructural development of Anambra State” because it was based on brazen violation of the laws on local government council administration in order to be hailed as “an unequal achiever”. He should be judged with how he spent the state revenue sources in projects and programmes and not in hijacking local government council revenues to outshine his predecessor. 

   Of course, in sane and civilized polities, the former administration should have been frequenting the law court not for stealing public funds but ostensibly for diverting and misappropriating local government council funds. Since the anti-graft agencies have allegedly been selective in their supposed fight against official corruption, the governor has not been made to account for the billions of local government council monthly statutory allocations since March 2006. 

The naive rationalization that the funds were diverted for the purchase of jeeps for the traditional rulers, buses for the secondary schools, federal agencies, youth association, girls' guide, private sector organizations and sundry father Christmas posturing at the detriment of the core needs of the public sector employees in terms of basic needs and minimum wage of civil servants ought to be perceived by the anti-graft agencies as no defence at all. It is important to highlight the fact the laws are made to be strictly obeyed since it is the only difference between civilized countries of the world and apparently primitive, corruption-ridden countries like Nigeria. The former governor unabashedly basterdised governance and the present one should not fall into this deadly trap so as to maintain his stately and polished personality and integrity.

 Polycarp Onwubiko, A Retired Director In Anambra Civil Service sent this piece from Awka