All the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) got N2.567.2 trillion in allocation from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in 2023, FAAC documents seen by Daily Trust show.
In spite of this huge allocation, many of the LGAs have dilapidated infrastructure and some of them even owe primary school teachers and other workers’ salaries and allowances.
Former President Muhammadu Buhari had in December 2022 accused state governors of pocketing local government funds.
The former president was quoted as stating that the state governors only remitted half of the allocation they received on behalf of local governments to council chairmen, who also went on to deplete the allocations they received.
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Buhari had earlier granted local government financial autonomy by executive order in 2020, and then in March 2022, the National Assembly voted to grant financial and administrative autonomy to local governments across all states.
This law, among other things, allows local governments to have their own accounts instead of the joint account operated with the state government that had existed before.
The executive order and law notwithstanding, the financial and administrative operations of local governments in Nigeria are still intertwined.
A review of FAAC documents published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), shows that in 2023, the sum of N2.567.2trn was disbursed to local government councils.
The highest allocation was received by Lagos, N192.7 billion, disbursed through the year; while the lowest allocation went to Bayelsa State with N30.5bn.
The 17 Abia LGAs got N46.5bn in 2023 and on the average, each LGA received N2.74bn. In the same year, the 21 Adamawa LGAs received N62.3bn, and each LGA in the state got N2.97bn on the average.
The 31 LGAs in Akwa-Ibom State got N83.6bn and N2.70bn for each of the LGAs on the average, while the LGAs in Anambra received N66.5bn, and each of the 21 LGAs got N3.17bn on the average.
The 20 LGAs in Bauchi State got N69.6bn, and N3.48bn for each of them on the average. The eight LGAs in Bayelsa got N30.5bn in 2023 while N3.82bn went for each LGA on the average.
In Benue, the 23 LGAs got N73.5bn and each LGA received N3.2bn on the average. The 27 Borno LGAs got N82.4bn, and N3.05bn for each LGA on the average.
The FAAC document showed that the 18 Cross River LGAs received N52.9bn in 2023 while each got N2.94bn on the average. In Delta State, the 25 LGAs got N75.5bn and each got N3.02bn on the average.
FAAC disbursed N40bn to the 13 LGAs in Ebonyi State while N3.08bn went to each LGA on the average. The 18 Edo LGAs got N55.6bn while N3.09bn was disbursed to each LGA on the average.
In Ekiti State, the 16 LGAs got N44bn in 2023 while an average of N2.75bn went to each of them. The 17 Enugu LGAs got N54.5bn and N3.21bn to each on the average. The six FCT LGAs got N50.7bn and N8.45bn went to each of them on average.
The 11 Gombe LGAs received N36.9bn in 2023 and N3.35bn went to each LGA on average, while the 27 Imo LGAs got N73.3bn with each of them getting N2.72bn on the average.
The 27 LGAs in Jigawa State got N78bn with N2.89bn for each of them on the average. The 23 Kaduna LGAs received N85.5bn and N3.72bn for each on the average.
In Kano, the 44 LGAs got a total of N135.6bn and each got N3.08bn on average, while the 34 LGAs in Katsina got N102.7bn in and N3.02bn for each of them on the average.
The 21 Kebbi LGAs, 21 Kogi LGAs and 16 Kwara LGAs got N63bn (N3.00bn each), N63.8bn (N3.04bn each), and N48.8bn respectively.
The 20 Lagos LGAs got the highest allocation of N192.7bn with an average of N9.64bn for each of them. The 13 Nasarawa LGAs got N40.4bn and N3.11bn for each of them on the average.
The 25 Niger LGAs, 20 Ogun LGAs, 18 Ondo LGAs, 30 Osun LGAs and 33 Oyo LGAs got N76.6bn (N3.07bn), N59.3bn (N2.97bn), N54.9bn (N3.05bn), N75.2bn (N2.51bn) and N107.3bn ( N3.25bn) respectively.
Also, the 17 Plateau LGAs, 23 Rivers LGAs, 23 Sokoto LGAs, 16 Taraba LGAs, 17 Yobe LGAs and 14 Zamfara LGAs got N56bn (N3.29bn), N108.2bn (N4.70bn), N69.9bn (N3.04bn), N50.9bn (N3.18bn), N51.6bn (N3.04bn) and N48.5bn (N3.47bn) respectively.
There has been calls by civil society organisations for Nigerians to ask their state governors as well as local government chairmen and councillors what they have been doing with the billions they receive as allocations from FAAC on their behalf.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the 36 state governors in the country and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike, to disclose details of federal allocations meant for local governments in their states and the FCT and the actual disbursement of the allocations to the local governments since the return of democracy in 1999.
SERAP also urged them “to promptly invite the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the actual disbursement and spending of federal allocations meant for local governments in their states and the FCT since May 1999.
