No LG can meet statutory obligations without 10% Igr —Ex-Edo council boss

By Gabriel Enogholase BENIN—FORMER Oredo Local Government Area, Edo State, chairman, Mr. Victor Ebomoyi, has said that until the 10 percent meant for councils from the total Internally Generated Revenue from the states was remitted to them, no council in the country can meet its statutory obligations, including payment of salaries. Ebomoyi, while reacting to the directive from the Edo State Government to all chairmen and councillors in the state to stop the collection of security votes, payment of allowances to themselves and their councillors until they pay workers’ salaries, said: “The directive is uncalled for. My advice to the state governments is to take a second look at the law as it affects the IGR of the states and what the law says should accrue to the councils.” Meanwhile, Edo State President of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Mr. Young Ilenikhena, in his reaction to the directive, insisted that the decision reached by the state government that council chairmen should forfeit their security votes and other allowances until the salary arrears of their workers were paid was not a permanent cure to the problem. Ebomoyi, in an interview with Vanguard in Benin, said: “I am not aware that the law has been amended. What the law says is that 10 percent of the total IGR of the state is supposed to be given to the local governments. A situation where most of the councils have lost their revenue beats to the state governments especially metropolitan councils, is not good enough as the state has eroded their revenue base. “I believe that if the 10 percent of the total IGR of the state is given to the councils, it would give the councils a good mileage and if that is done and you now said, let’s make sacrifice, that will make sense. So, what the government has done is cosmetic.” Mr. Young Ilenikhena, added that the summation of the total allowances of the 18 council chairmen and 192 councillors in the state would not be enough to pay salaries of council employees, adding that “It is just a tip of the iceberg.”