KWARA State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed has appealed to the Federal Government for early release of the Federal Allocation to enable states to meet their obligations.

Ahmed, who spoke with reporters in Ilorin on Sunday, said holding the Federal Revenue Allocation meetings early would allow the Ministry of Finance and other institutions to remit money to states and local governments.

He appealed to the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to ensure that the meetings were held early.

The governor said, "For us at the governor’s forum we have sought to meet with the Minister of Finance to please work on the issue of delayed allocations meetings.

"I remember when I was Commissioner for  Finance, the meetings were usually held between 12,  13 and 14 of each month.  So it gives ample time for the Central Bank of Nigeria, which  is  in charge of allocating funds  to various states and local government through the ministry of finance to do that.

"Now allocation meetings are usually held much later, and the later the meetings are held the later the distribution and allocation of fund. And before it gets to the state and the state has its process of ensuring distribution and allocation; that is the first leg in the delays."

He said the state recorded shortfalls in federal revenue allocations from May till July.

However, he called on local governments to exhibit more financial prudence, reduce their recurrent expenditure and devise strategic and innovative means of improving  on their internally generated  revenue  to avoid total dependence on federal allocations.