Re: Inside the massive fraud in Kogi councils – Setting the records straight

On Sunday, June 29, 2014, the Sunday Trust published a story captioned ‘Inside the massive fraud in Kogi Councils’ on pages 8 to 10. Since the date of the publication, council chairmen in the state have received many calls and enquiries about the true position of things.  It is, therefore, pertinent to put the issues […]

On Sunday, June 29, 2014, the Sunday Trust published a story captioned ‘Inside the massive fraud in Kogi Councils’ on pages 8 to 10. Since the date of the publication, council chairmen in the state have received many calls and enquiries about the true position of things.  It is, therefore, pertinent to put the issues in the right perspective and correct the erroneous and harmful impressions that have been created in the minds of the unsuspecting public that there is “massive fraud in Kogi councils.”  The story claimed that Kogi councils receive an average of N180 million monthly. However, it should be noted that allocations to LGAs are not based on averages but on established parameters and from which the following statutory deductions are made:
A. Deductions of teachers’ salaries remitted to SUBEB – N1.362 billion.
B.1% remitted to Local Government Service Commission
C.1% remitted to Local Government Joint Accounts.
D.5% for traditional councils’ emoluments.
E. Remittance to Local Government Pension Board.
F. VAT charges.
G. COT charges
H. 2.5% LGEA Administrative overhead cost
Simply put, what a local government council gets as net receipt is not what the reporters have published!
Indeed, about seven months ago the Governor of the State, Captain Idris Wada, gave directives that no deductions outside the statutory ones listed above should be made from the local government joint accounts.  This directive is strictly being complied with at Joint Account Allocation Committee disbursement meetings.
Fourth, in their determined mindset to create a false impression and report unfairly, the reporters claimed to have approached the Chairman of Kogi State ALGON for an interview.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Without any doubt, the facts above have detracted greatly from the credibility of this story, but more facts are further stated here to puncture the story.
CRISIS IN SALARY PAYMENT: For the avoidance of doubt, the crisis in the payment of salaries in the Local Government Councils pre-dates the current State and Local Government Administrations in the State.  The issue is an inherited problem which His Excellency, Capt. Idris Wada, in his characteristic manner has started to tackle frontally. This led to the restructuring of relevant institutions as attested to by personnel and change in leadership. Various committees have been set up to unearth and unravel the factors bedevilling the regularity of salary payment at this tier of Government. The on-going scrutiny has led to salary payment arrears in some Local Government Areas. So far, it has been discovered that, over the years, the following reasons have made salary payments unmanageable.
1. Over staffing of Local Government Councils. In virtually all the local government councils, employment was seen by successive council administrators as a means of dispensing patronage without a corresponding correlation of such employment with the capacity and needs of the Local Government. At the moment, Local Government Councils in the State have staff strength ranging from 800-2,200. Faced with the hard realities of disproportional revenue relative to personnel costs, the Local Government Councils have had to confront the hard choices of either cutting down their staff strength drastically or maintaining the staff on a reduced emolument until certain corrective fiscal measures are applied to boost the revenue of the Councils in the State.  Against the backdrop of the social tension created by unemployment in the Country, it is not considered expedient to right-size the personnel at the moment. This is why the problem persists. We can imagine what kind of stories will be written if people are laid off en masse for redundancy when partially paid salaries are generating so many furores.
2. Recruitment of non-professional staff into professional departments, with their payments based on professional salary structures. Health and Agriculture Departments are plagued with staff members that have been employed with no cognate qualification or experience. The attraction here is the enhanced salary structure that staff of these departments draw.  
3. Declining revenue from statutory sources. The allocations to Local Governments have also declined over time as was eloquently argued in the early part of the story.
4. Implementation of the new minimum wage without a corresponding increase in the allocation to councils. This obviously shot up the wage bill and other liabilities which are calculated as a percentage of salaries, including pension, gratuity, leave bonuses and so on. Negotiation on the minimum wage had been going on until the new salary structure was approved in December 2011.
5. Tremendous strains and pressures with competing needs for development placed on the meagre resources of the Local Councils. In addition to payment of salaries, local councils have monthly responsibilities which directly impact all of their constituents and which are just as important as salaries. We must appreciate that local governments exist not just to pay salaries but also to provide other services.
REMEDIAL EFFORTS:
1. Staff Audit
To address this untoward development, which has generated considerable industrial disharmony, the state government, in conjunction with the local government councils have carried out various staff audit to ascertain the number and the qualification of local government staff and teachers.  The audit led to startling revelations that will provide ample window for correcting the system, when the audit recommendation is implemented.
2. Restructuring of SUBEB
The deduction of N1.36 billion for SUBEB which is meant for the payment of teachers and the administration of the board is a first line charge.  The various audits that have been carried out on this deduction have, however, revealed some loopholes.  This prompted the governor to dissolve the State Universal Basic Education Board in May 2014.  An interim board has since been set up and appreciable progress has been made in its assignment.  When this exercise is completed, a lot of savings will be realised.  The savings will be ploughed into addressing the fund shortages in the payment of Local Government Councils and Primary School Teachers across the State.
3. The judicious and effective utilization of intervention funds like the SURE-P and MDG funds, which the story confirmed is an eloquent testimony of the high premium the administration of His Excellency, Capt.ain Idris Wada places on probity, accountability, zero tolerance for any form of fraud and grassroots development.
In the course of his current local government tour, the governor encountered, first-hand, the evidence of judicious fund utilization as sign posted by the various projects that he has commissioned across the councils that he has visited.
Way forward and appeal for caution: From the explanation stated here, it is obvious that the issues raised in the publication in reference are well known to both tiers of government in the state and steps are being taken to address these issues.  The issue of non-payment of full salaries by Local Government Councils in Kogi State is one that is being tackled head on. As political leaders, the welfare of the people is our first priority, especially when it affects the livelihood and survival of our people and their dependants. No responsible government will turn a blind eye to this.
Some of the other claims in the story are too pedestrian to deserve any response from serious minded people. If a bank manager made away with customer’s funds in a bank, who takes responsibility for that and how does that affect the local governments, even assuming the story is true?
Hon. Aloysius A. Okino is the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Kogi State Chapter

Editor’s Comment: This rejoinder has been edited for taste and space. In spite of the name-calling and denials, we wish to state that our story has been vindicated.  On Thursday, July 3, 2014, Governor Idris Wada directed all local government chairmen in Kogi state to pay salaries in full, effective from this month. This directive came six days after we published the story which emphasised the agony of council workers.