Kassim: Even After Paying N53m In Salaries, They’d Still Have Over N700m From N800m Monthly Revenue
In an interview with PUNCH, Kassim Afegbua, the State APC Director of Media for the Campaign Council, talked about the potential effects of the Supreme Court decision on local government autonomy. Afegbua commended President Bola Tinubu for tackling a problem that former presidents had ignored. He stressed that Supreme Court decisions are mandatory constitutional laws.
Afegbua outlined the situation in Edo State, where local governments manage joint accounts and receive minimal funding. He mentioned that local government chairmen must sign for funds at the bank, but they only receive a small portion of the allocated money, with the majority going towards staff salaries.
In Etsako-East, his own Local Government Area, they receive only a small fraction of the allocated funds, limiting their capacity for substantial development.
He explained, “Here’s an example: local governments in Edo State are akin to being enslaved. They manage a joint account. When funds are allocated, the local government chairmen are asked to go to Sterling Bank and confirm receipt of a certain amount, but what they actually receive is only enough to cover staff salaries.”
“In my Local Government Area, Etsako-East, the Local Government Chairman gets millions of naira. So, what is left for that local government is N1.5 million for the whole month. There is nothing he wants to achieve with that except he can think out of the box to generate IGR.”
“But with this ruling, if they get like N800 million in a month and pay N53 million as salary, they will still have over N700 million to do projects to bring development.”
He contended that the Supreme Court decision could result in significant progress if local governments were given direct funding from the Federal Government. Afegbua suggested that with direct allocations, local governments would be able to keep a larger share of their budget for development initiatives, which would enhance governance and tackle existing challenges more effectively……See_More
