The Akwa Ibom
State government has never fiddled with moneys meant for Local Government
Councils - not in the present administration and certainly not in the immediate
past administration. This is the assertion of the Akwa Ibom Commissioner for Education,
Mr. Aniekan Akpan.
In a media
hangout with select members of the Online Press, the Commissioner insisted that
the administrations of both the former Governor and the present are not responsible
for the failure of some Local Governments to fulfill their financial responsibilities.
He stressed that, especially in Akwa Ibom, the Joint State and Local Government
Account System cannot be manipulated to deprive any beneficiary of their due. He
affirmed emphatically;
“…I must say
openly and clearly, having been an elected chairman of a local government in Akwa
Ibom; that the past administration and the present have never tampered with
local government funds in Akwa Ibom State. And I can say that with authority. None
of our governors has ever tampered with local government funds.
I know the Governor
we have now; Mr. Udom Emmanuel has no interest in the joint account.”
The Commissioner,
who himself had been a two time member of the State House of Assembly and is a
past local government chairman of Ukanafun LGA, was reacting to a question posted
on Facebook by a member of the over 400,000-follower strong audience who joined
the social media convo.
The State Joint
Local Government Account System was created by Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution;
established for effective management of revenue accruing to the local
government councils from the Federation account. And in many states, there have been bitter complaints
of misuse of the Joint account by the state governments. But about Governor Udom
Emmanuel, of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Akpan says;
“He knows
how to manage the state, he has the capacity. That’s why even when people are
complaining of nonpayment of salaries and all that in other place, the governor
here knows how to structure the finances. In spite of dwindling resources, he knows
how to get the state going, and not with local government funds.
Explaining further
into how the local government funds are administered in the State, He added;
“The joint
account committee system in Akwa Ibom is so structured that payment of staff
salary is taken as first line charge; after that, those of primary school
teachers. What is left is what the local governments manage.
It is
structured in such a way that the funds that come are pulled together so that
staff of local government could be paid; the teachers paid too. Otherwise, some
local governments may not be able to manage those funds.
It is after
paying these staff and teachers that some local government councils may be left
with nothing. If it weren’t like this, you would probably have been hearing ‘So So Local Government are owing teachers for
8 months; others owing staff 12 months’.
It is not
that the State is tampering with their funds; rather, it is an agreement that you
must pay your staff first and you must pay teachers; which are your
responsibilities.”
By Uduak Umo
