Senate passes council revenue allocation bill
From Alifa Daniel and Azimazi Momoh Jimoh, Abuja
A BILL for an Act to prescribe the formula for allocation of revenue for local councils was passed yesterday by the Senate.
If the House of Representatives concurs and the bill is assented to by President Olusegun Obasanjo, local councils that could not get their share would be placed on a first line charge on the state's next allocation from the Federation Account.
The bill as passed by the upper House was modified by its committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation headed by Senator Udoma Udo Udoma.
Among others, the bill provided for the setting up of a state joint local government account allocation committee which now has the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation, Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the office of the Accountant General of the Federation as members.
The new features of the joint local government account allocation committee are:
- rendering of Account to the Federation Account Allocation Committee: The bill provides that, whilst it shall be the duty of all the members of the state committee generally to monitor the disbursement from the joint account, the Commissioner from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission is specifically charged with the duty to render monthly returns from the state to the Federation Account Allocation Committee;
- payment directly to local government in case of default: The Bill provides that in the case of any default in the allocation, or distribution to any local government councils, such amount shall be a first charge on the state's next allocation from the Federation Account, and shall be credited directly to the affected local government; and
- transparency and publicity: To ensure transparency and publicity, the bill requires that returns from the State Joint Local Government Account Allocation Committee shall be presented quarterly to the National Assembly through the Accountant-General of the Federation.`
