Ogun State Government says the Dapo Abiodun-led administration has never tampered with funds allocated to local government from Federation account, rather, the government has had to augment the funds from time to time. .
The government, stated this in a statement by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the state governor, Lekan Adeniran, in reaction to a letter written by the Chairman of Ijebu East Local Government, Wale Adedayo.
Adedayo had alleged in a letter addressed to former Governor of the state, Olusegun Osoba, on Sunday that “Since we (Ogun State Local Government Chairmen) got on board in 2021, it has been ZERO Federal Allocation to each local government.”
The Council Boss asked Osoba, to urgently wade in, and convince Abiodun to allow the statutory Federal Allocation to Local Governments in Ogun State to get to each LGA, in line with the 1999 Constitution.
But, reacting, the state government noted that funds meant for local governments are being handled by the constitutionally recognized Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC).
It noted that the latest meeting by the JAAC was held last week, at the Conference Hall, Oba’s Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, where over N5bn was shared among the 20 local government areas, out of which over N2 billion went into paying teachers.
“Between May 2023 when the Governor was sworn in for the second term and July 2023, the JAAC shared among 20 local governments N4.531b, N4.444b, and N4.497b respectively on first line charges and just last week N5.2b was shared among the local governments for the month of August “the statement said.
At such meetings, the state government makes full disclosure of the receipt from the federation account, adding that “First-line charges, including local government staff salaries and pensions; primary school teachers’ salaries and pensions; healthcare workers’ salaries and pensions and emoluments for traditional rulers are tabled for discussion and fund allocation at the JAAC meetings.”
The statement added that this same pattern has been followed since Prince Dapo Abiodun took over the leadership of the state in 2019.
Governor Abiodun, the statement said, recently directed the local governments to identify critical roads that required government attention in their domains, with some already commissioned.
“In addition to these, the state government also disburse funds to all local governments for developmental projects periodically,” the statement added.
