Date: 2016-11-20

Following a huge decline of federal allocation to local and state governments in the country in the face of current economic downturn, the Kwara State government is devising different survival strategies for the local councils in the state.

No doubt, shortage of funds is a major challenge affecting the efficiency of local councils. For the councils to perform maximally there is a need for them to have a sustainable financial base, which will allow them meet their financial commitments.

The councils also lack the capacity to generate substantial Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) that can assist them in the discharge of their obligations.

As a way of shoring up revenue generation in the councils, the state government carried out a remarkable IGR reform, which subsequently birthed the LGs' partnership with the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KWIRS).

The process, so far, has led to a rise in the IGR of the councils. Declaring the progress made in the revenue generation for the councils, KWIRS Chairman, Dr. Muritala Awodun said that the revenue service collected N168.6 million for the sixteen local government areas in the state in the last nine months.

He added that the service plans to increase that amount to about N200 million in the last quarter.

According to him, "The total local government revenue collected by KWIRS in the first quarter was N32.8 million, second quarter the total amount was N53.2 million. You can see that there is a progressive improvement. In the third quarter we collected N82.6 million and we are believing that in the fourth quarter we will definitely be above N100 million if not N200 million; because there are some things that are supposed to manifest in this quarter.

"For instance this is the quarter for the collection of citizenship certificates by students as admissions will be processed at the Kwara State Polytechnic and Colleges of Education and some other things like tenement rates for communication masts which we are pursuing aggressively with the communication companies. If they come in this quarter as expected it is going to be substantial. This will ensure better performance than the third quarter."

Dr Awodun gave a breakdown of the amount collected in July as N20.8 million, August N31.3 million and September N20.5 million.

He put the number of citizenship certificates collected at 8,420, amounting to N21.6 million.

The chairman added that six of the 16 local government areas sold over 1,000 citizenship certificates.

No doubt, one of the major challenges facing local councils is that they have an over-bloated workforce largely due to redundancy. Bloated workforce has crippled the finances of the councils leading to delays in salary payment. In addition, several people on the payroll of the councils are not genuine staff of the councils, it was gathered.

The Nation's investigation revealed that ghost workers abound in the councils and this has affected their ability to meet financial obligations such as payment of salaries. This is why the state government is conducting a staff verification exercise to identify and flush out ghost workers, which will assist in blocking wastages that have hitherto weighed down the finances of the councils.

The verification exercise will ensure that the monthly recurrent expenditure of the 16 local councils is reduced, thus freeing up more revenue for their operations. In his several meetings with the former council chairmen, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed always emphasized the need to block leakages and reduce the cost of governance, which are necessary to ensuring the financial viability of the third tier of government.

Another measure the state government has adopted to avoid cost was the recent inauguration of Transition Implementation Committees (TIC) for the state's 16 local government areas.

The tenure of the executive members of the councils expired on November 10th. Hitherto, the state government had said that it does not have the means of conducting elections in the council until its economy improves.

During their swearing-in Ahmed charged that TIC members to clear backlog of salaries and pensions in their respective local governments within the shortest possible time.

Ahmed, who directed the committees to make financial prudence their watchword, advised them to prioritize low hanging infrastructure that will bring swift relief to the people. "In this regard, you are to avoid making unnecessary appointments, shun ostentation and avoid any conduct capable of calling your integrity into question," he said.

The governor promised the state government's support to the local government councils within available resources and guidance to see them through the difficult times.

The governor said that when the report of the State Committee on Personnel Database Development is submitted, monthly recurrent expenditure at the local and state levels will reduce, thus freeing funds for infrastructural development.

Ahmed reminded the people of the state on the need to pay their taxes and levies regularly for the government to have funds required for the infrastructural development of the state, adding that tax defaulters would face the wrath of the law.

"Just as the welfare of citizens is obligatory on government, the payment of taxes is compulsory for all eligible individuals and businesses. You cannot expect to benefit from services provided by government from taxes and yet refuse to contribute to paying your tax", the governor said.

He said that "government at state and local government levels will, therefore, not hesitate to invoke the law to punish those found guilty of tax avoidance or evasion."

Ensuring high level of transparency and accountability in the management of financial resources of the councils is also important as parts of efforts to reform their financial structures.

To this end, Governor Ahmed directed that a meeting of council officials and stakeholders within the local governments must hold every month to discuss openly details of their allocation and the utilization plan.

Officials of the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and other labour unions in the state are always invited to witness the proceedings of the state Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting. The TIC chairmen were also warned by Ahmed to avoid making unnecessary appointments, make prudence their watchword, shun ostentation and avoid any conduct capable of calling their integrity to question.

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state loyal to the Ahmed Makarfi-led PDP has hailed the appointment of the TIC.

Chairman of the faction, Prince Sunday Fagbemi said that, though he is not in support of the APC led government in the state, he added that the postponement of election into the councils would put his members in good stead to prepare for the polls anytime it is called.