LG autonomy: FG directs 774 councils to open account with CBN

LG autonomy: FG directs 774 councils to open account with CBN

The 774 local government areas in Nigeria have been mandated to open dedicated accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, for receiving direct disbursement of allocations from the federation’s account.

The National President of the Association of Local Governments, ALGON, Bello Lawal-Yandaki, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Katsina on Sunday.

He said the opening of the account is critical to the implementation of the Supreme Court ruling on direct allocations to the councils.

Mr Yandaki, however, said that the apex bank is waiting the Federal Government’s directive on the opening of the accounts.

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While allaying fears over the delay in the implementation of the Supreme Court judgement, Mr Yandaki said there was no cause for alarm.

He also attributed the delay to the failure of councils to submit necessary bank details to the Federation Accounts and Allocations Committee, FAAC, required for facilitating the payments.

He said: “The CBN is presently awaiting directives from the Federal Government to open local government accounts for the respective states, which can be done between 24 and 48 hours for each.’

“I am a member of the subcommittee that was set up to trash out contentious grey areas, and we have already met relevant stakeholders, including labour unions, local government chairmen, NULGE, and so on.

“There’s a general agreement that the commencement of direct federal revenue allocations to LGs will be this January.

“Hopefully, we are just rounding off meetings and making submissions to the federal government for implementation, and there’s no set timeline.’’

LG autonomy: FG directs 774 councils to open account with CBN