‘Stop Using LGs For Revenue Sharing’

Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN candidate for Ikeja Federal Constituency,  Honourable James Abiodun Faleke, has said that the only way to stop agitation for creation of new local governments is for the Federal Government to desist from using the number of local governments in the states of the federation as the formula for sharing revenue from the federation account.

Faleke stated this on Sunday in Lagos during an interactive  sessions with journalists.  According to him, there has been constant demand for additional local governments by state governments because the government at the centre has opted to use the number of local governments as basis for revenue sharing, which he said puts states like Lagos at a disadvantage.

“Look at Lagos. It has just 20 local governments recognised by the constitution, yet it has more people to cater for than Kano with 44 local governments. Even Jigawa that was carved out of Kano has 27 local governments. This is grossly unfair,’’ he lamented.

Honourable Faleke stated further that in the spirit of transparency and equity, it is either local governments created by the states are listed in the constitution or the Federal Government should stop using number of local governments as formula for revenue sharing.

He vowed to push for the validation of  the 37 local council development areas in Lagos if elected into the House of Representatives.

Speaking on the issue of minimum wage, the former Chairman of Ojodu Local Council Development Area stated that states should be allowed to fix minimum wage for their workers, and condemned the present revenue sharing formula which he argued is lopsided in favour of the Federal Government.

“The socio-political structure differs from one state to the other, hence what is desirable as minimum wage in one state may be undesirable in another. States should be allowed to pay what they can afford. In addition to this, the Federal Government should shed some of its revenue to the states. It is not fair for them to be taking more than 50 percent of revenue from the federation account,” he said.

The erstwhile chairman of ‘Conference 57’, umbrella organisation for Lagos council chairmen, stated that his main priorities in the House will be: working towards the listing of Lagos LCDAs in the constitution, ensuring increased federal projects in Ikeja Federal Constituency and putting in place effective mechanism for interaction with people of his constituency so as to know their needs and  ways of providing such needs.

Faleke said ACN is fully prepared for the election, which starts with that of the National Assembly on Saturday, 2 April, adding that nothing will be left to chance to prevent rigging.

“We will ensure that it’s one man, one vote. We will prevent ballot boxes from being snatched. It is candidates who are not popular that engage in rigging. But we won’t allow that to happen,” he said.