BENIN CITY – Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has charged the Heads of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) in the 18 local government areas of the State to be prudent in the management of the local government resources and ensure they focus on the payment of the backlog of unpaid salaries owed to Council workers.

Speaking during a meeting with the heads of local government administration in the Government House, Benin City, recently, Governor Oshiomhole said, “I think there are huge challenges in the various local governments for which you are even more familiar than myself as heads of local government administration. From my last meeting with the immediate past local government chairmen, it is very clear that over two-thirds of local governments are in arrears of salaries ranging from one month to thirteen months. I think this is a very sad situation to be in.

“It is impossible for me to appreciate how anyone could stay for one year without his salaries being paid. Even not to be paid for one month is bad enough. I think that of thirteen months is Egor local government. I have in conjunction with the immediate past chairman, having seen through the errors that were made by the local government in which the bail out that Egor local government was supposed to receive, for some reasons, was omitted, and there are conflicting reasons given, but I have taken up this matter with the Governor of the Central Bank, and I am very hopeful that the bank will effect a correction, and if they effect the correction, Egor should be able to receive the amount that was denied under the bail out because of that error. I believe that if that happens, the money will be available to pay the local government employees of Egor government, and that will go a long way to reducing some of the pains that they are currently experiencing.”

He said, “We are still faced with declining revenue and this is likely to continue over the next two months or probably three months because the main source of this revenue is the revenue from the sales of crude oil. You do not have control over revenue from Abuja, no matter what we say or do, but you have control over your expenditure. You also have control over locally generated revenue to a large extent. So, these are the areas where your managerial acumen, your competence and sense of judgment would come to play.

“I think the basic issue I have noticed over the period is that the revenue that is locally generated by various local governments doesn’t seem to be properly documented in the books of the local government. And you as heads of local government administration, you cannot claim ignorance of this fact, and I believe you are actually at the heart of it because it is the local government bureaucracy that should receive and document revenue accruing from any source, and so if revenue accruing from any source has not been properly documented, I don’t think in all fairness that you can be excused from it.”

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He continued, “I therefore want to urge you very strongly to do everything possible to ensure that the revenue that is locally generated are reflected in the books of the local government; every month, I would like to have a copy of such revenue so that we can monitor the movement, whether it is increasing or reducing, with an explanatory note, explaining why it is increasing, and if it is not, why it is not increasing. And of course, and more importantly, how the money is appropriated.

“But considering the current financial realities, which explains why all your employees are not up to date in the receipt of salaries, and you are all defaulting in varying degrees, ranging from one month or averaging about four months. I am of the view that asking heads of personnel to run local government at this time will help us to reduce the overhead cost of running local government, and therefore, the revenue that will be free from the overhead that would have been used to maintain an elected political leadership, those revenues must now be diverted to paying the salaries of local government employees that are currently in arrears in the various local governments. I am very confident that this arrangement will bring some relief to a large extent to local government employees. And my confidence flows from the fact that you and I have found ourselves in this kind of situation in the past.”

Governor Oshiomhole warned, “In the face of the current challenges, no contracts should be awarded, and you should not pay for any contract already awarded. The only contract that is not negotiable and for which revenue must apply is the contract between the local governments and the employees of the local governments. That contract is not negotiable. It must be serviced and the local governments have been defaulting in servicing those contracts. So, let me repeat or put it differently. Working with the Commissioner for the Local Government, the chairman of the Local Government Service Commission, the Accountant General of the state, between them they will ensure that the money accruing to the respective local governments from the Federation Account are not used for any other purpose except to clear the existing arrears of local governments. This situation will have to remain so until we are in a position to cause a review.

“That means in specific terms, that you will not pay for any contracts, valid or not valid, done or undone; you will certainly not award any new contracts, whatever the argument might be. You will not be spending money on so-called security. State government will bear responsibility for security. You will not do welfare to any group of persons whoever they are and wherever they are located. You are limited strictly to apply the funds after paying teachers’ salaries to pay the salaries of local government employees. This will further be reduced to writing so that should there be any attempt to spent extra one naira outside these non-negotiable commitments, then you will be exposing yourselves to some sanctions.”

Speaking on behalf of the heads of local government administration, Mr. Tom Ebhotemen of Akoko Edo Local Government Area thanked Governor Oshiomhole for the meeting and assured him that they would do their best to discharge their responsibilities.