The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) has promised to employ its statutory powers to sanction any state governor or official who violates the NFIU guidelines on local government funds in the Joint State and Local Government Accounts.
A source from the organization told BusinessDay at the weekend that it has all the mechanism to carry out the functions even though no local government has so far officially issued complaints to the Unit about the diversion of the local council funds since the guidelines took effect from June 1, 2019.
The NFIU in May drew up guidelines to ensure direct allocation of funds to local government from the Federation Account to ensure financial autonomy of the local councils. The guidelines barred the 36 states governors from interfering with statutory allocation accruing to the Local governments directly from the Federation Account.
Provision 9 of the NFIU guidelines stipulates that ” it’s hereby provided that any public officer anywhere in the country and/or any private citizen found undermining or violating these guidelines will be investigated and prosecuted under the NFIU Act 2018, the ML(PA), 2011(as amended), EFCC Act, 2004 and the ICPC Act, 2000″.
Also in June, a Federal High Court in Abuja also refused to restrain the NFIU from implementing its guidelines on the Local government funds as requested by the governors. Justice John Tsoho ruled that the Joint Account should only be used to distribute allocation account to the local councils directly. No higher court ruling is yet to be made on the matter so far.
The NFIU source said “For now there have been no other directives on the local government issues and the banks have been complying and I think the funds have been going to the local governments and anyone that has not complained it means that they are receiving their funds.
“The NFIU is already an established institution it is the only institution saddled with the responsibility of receiving statutory reports from reporting agencies, analyzing them and disseminating them when necessary as intelligence to support investigations. The NFIU had always been in a position to carry out these responsibilities.
“The NFIU has always had the mechanism to carry out these functions. Since no one has complained then that means they are complying. It is a national directive and it is in public glare. So if any local government is not receiving its funds directly, it is free to come out to complain,” the source added.
In a related development, the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) has urged chairmen of the 774 Local Government Areas in the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to henceforth comply with the Guidelines of the NFIU over the disputed issues of local government funds in the Joint State and Local Government Account.
National President of NULGE, Ibrahim Khaleel Abdulkadir made this urge in an open letter to all the chairmen across the 774 local government councils and the FCT made available to reporters last week in Abuja on the need to comply with the NFIU guidelines.
The NULGE President warned that any officer of the Local Government who “blindly follows the instruction of governors to transfer or divert local government funds to non-local government projects will be held personally liable.
He said further that from the pronouncements and actions the state governors are “still as determined as those before them to continue the looting of the local government resources with their stranglehold on these joint accounts.”
He cautioned the leadership of Local council chairmen, treasurers of councils and directors general services of administration to exercise a high degree of restraint in carrying out directives of state governors in releasing any funds whatsoever through back channels to organisations or agencies of state governments.
