Financial Autonomy: CDHR to Track Income, Expenditure of Lagos Councils

By Emmanuel Udom

The Committee for the Defence of Hyman Rights (CDHR) has promised to henceforth monitor how local councils in Lagos State spend all revenues collected from the federation account.

Recall that last month, the federal government secured a Supreme Court order to pay all revenues from the Federal Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) directly to the accounts of the 774 local government areas of the federation.

Before the court judgment, state governments received the funds on behalf of the councils without disbursing them to the real beneficiaries.

It is believed that the new development would give autonomy to the councils and free local government chairmen from the shackles of state governors, who were becoming emperors.

Speaking on Thursday in Lagos, the president of CDHR, Mr Debo Adeniran, who doubles as the chairman of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), said there would be no hiding place for council leaders in the state.

“All information is available from the federal budget office and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation. All financial receipts to all LG councils will be tracked diligently and meticulously,” he said.

Mr Adeniran noted that his organisations would officially write under the Freedom of Information (FOI) law to demand details of monthly FAAC allocations, monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), record of expenditure vis-à-vis, salaries and allowances of LG workers, political appointees, health and primary school workers, traditional rulers, etc.

“We anticipate that some local government chairmen will be recalcitrant to respond to our demands; so, we are already working with some notable legal minds to ensure that we sue them and ask the court to compel them to make all details of their income and expenditure available to the public who own the money. We are prepared to file as many cases as can give us a victory on this. We believe that the courts will oblige.

“We intend to give real-time, accurate, factual and objective reports of local government area developmental strides and interventions.

“If our money is misappropriated, embezzled or siphoned, we will drag the LG chairman concerned to the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) and the ICPC (Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission). Remember, LG chairmen do not have immunity,” he stated at the 6th Citizens Accountability and Rights Forum (CARF) held at The Rights House, in Ikeja, Lagos.

The platform was organised to create an avenue where the implementers and the beneficiaries of various government policies would come together to explain, elucidate and expatiate on areas of concern for the citizenry with a view to harmonizing different opinions on policies that are being implemented in the State.