By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Commissioner for Finance in Kwara State, Mr Demola Banu, disclosed on Friday that the state government was yet to receive a second tranche of the London-Paris club loans refund from the Federal Government.
While briefing journalists in Ilorin after the meeting of the State Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC), Mr Banu stated that although President Muhammadu Buhari has authorized the release of the funds to the 36 states of the federation, the Federal Ministry of Finance was still processing the payment.
“There has been no official commitment from the Federal Ministry of Finance as regards when the money will be paid. No State of the federation has received any fresh payment at the moment,” he said.
The Commissioner, however, assured that the public will be duly informed whenever the payment hits the state government’s accounts.
Speaking on the federal allocation to the 16 local government councils in the State for the month of March, Mr Banu disclosed that the gross statutory allocation for the LGs stood at N923,374,901.19, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N368,927,474.85 and excess Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) of N219,190,418.56.
He said the sum of N273,114,949.65 was deducted at source as repayment for the LGs previous borrowings from banks. Other deductions are N1.5 million for sundry expenses.
The Finance Commissioner announced that following the deductions, the sum of N271, 979, 655.86 is to be shared among the councils, which is inclusive of 10 per cent of the State government’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) distributable for the month, representing N44, 090, 651.86.
He also noted that N900, 000,000 was appropriated for the payment of Basic Education teachers’ salary, while the sum of N108, 988, 840.95 was allocated for LG pensioners’ arrears. Additionally, the sum of N147, 046, 492.19, which is the exchange gain difference accruing to the LGs, will be shared among them equally.
Mr Banu, however, noted that the state government is yet to receive this month’s allocation from the federal government but expressed optimism that the payment would be received next week.
Meanwhile, a top official of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS), Mr Segun Olaniyi was present at the JAAC meeting to give a breakdown of the IGR performance of each of the 16 LGs in the State for January, February up till the 16thday of March, 2017.
Mr Olaniyi revealed that the total sum of N65, 973, 895.44 was realized as IGR for the LGs for the period under review, with Baruten LG having the highest collection of N15.4million.
Representatives of labour unions in the state, who were also at the meeting implored the government to use the Paris club refunds, when received, to clear LG salaries and pensions.
Adedapo Adesanya