Windfall to LGAs Indict States, Question Capacity of Council Chairmen.

The Federal Government’s insistence on local government autonomy seems to have opened a can of worms on the volume of income to the third tier, raising curious questions as to why the masses are constantly subjected to unpardonable poverty.

While the autonomy has exposed and indicted some state governments who pilfered local government funds for years, it also raised questions on the sincerity and capacity of some local government chairmen.

For instance, in April, 2024, the amount that accrued to the 31 LGAs in Akwa Ibom State alone came to about whooping N8.7bn.

While Uyo LGA led the pack with N388m, Essien Udim followed with N318m. Ibiono Ibom received the third-highest allocation of N317m and Mkpat Enin got N315m, in the fourth position.

Analysts said if such funds were properly utilised, there would be no reason for the impoverished conditions experienced in the local governments across the state.

“If one local government could receive up to N 388m in only one month, imagine what would would accrue to that LGA in a year”, a financial expert, Robert Ituen, pondered.

According to him, time has come to call out the LGA chairmen and indeed the state government, against the backdrop of the recent blanket renewal of tenure for all the Transition chairmen.

Equally, Ms Agnes Etim, an accountant with one of the new-generation bankers, expressed dismay that snow of the chairmen were returned, despite the clear report that they performed abysmally with the funds received.

She wondered what Governor Umo Eno meant by saying the Transition chairmen, who performed poorly were “covered by grace.”

“What did they use the money received for and where are the evidence on ground? How did this reflect on the recently concluded LGA project verification exercise that all chairmen came out tops?” she queried.