PAYE, Loans, Others Suffer as Ogun LGs Record N578.9m Deficit

By James Sowole

Facts emerged yesterday that local government areas in Ogun State would not be able to meet some of their financial obligations this month as total money received by the 20 council areas fell short by N578.9 million.

The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Moruf Afuape, yesterday disclosed that all the local government areas in the state shared the sum of N3,433,366,025.10 as revenue allocation from the federal government for the month of August.

Speaking during the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) meeting with the chairmen of the 20 local government areas in the state, Afuape said financial obligations of local government areas stood at N4.02billion for the month.

He said when compared what came to the 20 local government areas to their total financial obligations, they were left with a deficit of N578,927,662.

Sequel to the deficit, the commissioner pointedly said the state could not remit the monthly contributory pension of N201,738,504; cooperative and loans of N124,387,601; PAYE of N178,266,766, and 5 percent bond of N121,523,618.

According to him, “We are back to the same thing almost every month; we have a shortfall of N578,927,662, and as such, some statutory payments could not be made.

“This explain why at times we are saying that we are not paying PAYE to the state, we still owe some cooperative deductions because the money is not even enough to pay all these.

“And if this (Federal Allocation) is not enough to pay, there is no way any local government will be able to get any money.

“It is a very transparent exercise, and if anybody has any issue over this, you are free to challenge us; we are ready to defend it and that is the position we are for September 2021.

“We are not augmenting now because the money we got from Abuja cannot be used it to pay statutory payments, but if we are to pay everything, the shortfall will have been N578million, but since we are not paying everything, we are avoiding some payments we are already in the positive of N46million.”

Also speaking, the Chairman of Ijebu Ode Local Government Area and the acting Chairman of the Association of Local Government Chairmen, Mr. Tunde Gazal, commended the state government for transparent manner in which the finances of councils are being handled.

Gazal said local government, which is closest to the people, cannot thrive under the current revenue allocation formula, in which the federal government takes the highest percentage.

“Those who were saying the e-call up system is not working are people referred to as ‘movers’. These people know several agencies and the enforcement agencies within the ports’ environments and they usually move trucks or fly trucks in the ports with the help of the agencies.

“This access control is linked to where you are coming from, which is the Satellite Truck Park. So, immediately you come out of the Satellite Truck Park that has an access control. The one at the port will be notified that you are coming. So, when you get to the port it will open. If you have not been to the Satellite Truck Park, it will not open,” he said.

“There is no gridlock in Apapa. Before now, for you to move a truck, during the TTP time, people pay as much as N150, 000 to N200,000 to move a truck from Ijora-Olopa to Apapa Port because it is based on manual and anything that is manual has human interference,” he added.