Governor Sule orders full LG financial autonomy implementation in his state

The Nasarawa State Government has ordered the full compliance with the new Local Government’s financial autonomy guidelines as directed by Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU). 

Governor Abdullahi Sule

Governor Abdullahi Sule who spoke through Bala Sani, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs gave the directive during the state’s LG Joint Account Committee (JACC) meeting in Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital.

According to the governor, the state government through the ministry has fully complied with the directive in order to ensure prudence and accountability in the management of resources adding that the guidelines has been put into operation since June 1, and the state has set up machinery to ensure its success. The permanent Secretary said that the JACC meeting in the state still hold in order to resolve some grey areas because money was not send directly into the LGAs account. 

He said further that the the meeting woua held to consider the development areas that are not recognised by the new guidelines and urged LG Chairmen to share the allocation with the respective development areas. He also urged the local councils to ensure that statutory deductions were considered on first line charges before any other expenses were made. 

He listed the statutory deductions to include salaries for traditional rulers, percentage for pension of retirees, local government staff training by Local Government Service Commission. Others includes; salaries for primary school teachers, Primary Healthcare and Development Agency (PHCDA) among others. 

The Accountant-General of the state, Zakka Yakubu said, that LGAs and development areas should share allocations the way it was done in the past because the guidelines did not recognise development areas. 

He also advised the LGAs Chairmen to keep proper records of their expenditures to avoid violation of the guidelines.