Business
Commissioner Seeks 32 Per cent Revenue For LGs
The Lagos State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Ademorin Kuye, on Wednesday advocated 32 per cent federal revenue allocation for local governments to cater for their “enormous responsibilities”.
Addressing newsmen on “Repositioning the Local Government Areas by the Lagos State Government“, Kuye said that the present allocation to the councils was too meagre for any meaningful development at the grassroots.
Reports say that under the present revenue sharing formula, the Federal Government gets a lion share of 52.7 per cent, the 36 states were allocated 26.7 per cent while the 774 local governments get 20.6 percent.
“The local government, as we all know, is the grassroots government in that it is the closest to the people. This proximity makes it a potential engine room for accelerated development at the grassroots.
“Unfortunately, in spite of the enormous responsibilities of the local governments, they get a negligible share of the nation’s revenue.
“The local governments will no doubt make greater impact on the lives of the people in their respective areas if the allocation to this tier of government is increased to, say, about 32 per cent,“ he said.
Kuye added that the people expected too much from the local governments, saying that only an increase in their allocation would enable them to meet the expectations.
He said in spite of the challenges of funds being constantly faced by the 20 local governments and 37 local development areas in the state, they had been able to bring significant development to the people.
Kuye, however, said most of the councils’ achievements were wrongly attributed to the state government due to poor coverage and publicity and incorrect public perception.
The commissioner said the state government would work tirelessly to strengthen the capacity of the local governments to bring more development to the people