Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia
The 18 Local Government Councils in Edo State shared N2.95 billion for the month of July as against N2.18 billion disbursed in June by the state’s Joint Account and Allocation Committee (JAAC).
Speaking after the monthly meeting of the committee, presided over by the Governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, at the Government House in Benin City on Tuesday, the Head of Local Government Administration, Esan South East, Mr. Macauley Ehonor, said the July allocation increased by N770 million over the June allocation.
 Ehonor explained that N1.45 billion of the N2. 95 billion July allocation was used for mandatory expenditures such as payment of primary school teachers’ salaries, one per cent training fund, as well as five per cent payment for traditional rulers.
 He added that the distributable sum left for the 18 LG councils was put at N1.49 billion, while the Paris Club Refund would be used to pay outstanding salaries of workers across the 18 Local Government Councils.
 He further said that the electronic collection of taxes, levies and fixed rates in the entire Local Government Areas in the state commenced in July, and urged members of the public to comply with the directive.
Also, the 13 local government areas in Nasarawa State have shared the sum of N2.2 billion accrued to the council areas from the Federation Account in the month of July.
The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Haruna Iliya Osegba, disclosed this to journalists after the state
Joint Allocation Account Committee (JAAC), in Lafia, the state capital.
The local government commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Dauda Sabo, explained that after deductions for essential services from the federal allocation accrued to the local councils in the month of July and N1.5 billion was balanced
which would be used to pay one month full salary of the council workers in the state.
He said: “The state government will also offset the 50 per cent October, 2015 salary arrears of local government workers.â€
He, however, explained that the money to offset the 50 per cent October 2015 salary arrears of the council workers, was sourced from the second trench of the Paris Club refund to the state.
“Government has also released the sum of N200 million from the second trench of the Paris Club refund to the state to offset pension arrears of local government retirees who had retired from service before 2011,†Osegba further revealed.
