Financial recklessness grounds Delta LGCs

Apart from Uvwie local government council that has already been shut down by its staff over nonpayment of consolidated salary arrears and August salary, indications are rife that more local government councils in Delta State may be shut down in the next two weeks if the September federal allocations follow the same fate as that of August.

Fresh Angle has gathered that already Burutu local government council has gone bankrupt following deductions made by its customer bank after the bank cleared the balance of the council account following overdraft earlier taken by the transition committee chairman of the local government.

We also scooped from an impeccable source in Warri North local government that it took the intervention of the branch executive of Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE to stop the local government transition committee chairman from collecting overdraft to offset some of the pressing recurrent expenditure meant for August. The council like its Warri South local government counterpart only managed to pay staff salary without anything left for running cost.

Investigations reveal that even though what was released by the Delta State government as the local government councils’ share of the August federal allocations was not enough to pay staff salary, Fresh Angle gathered from credible sources within the 25 local government councils that monies released by the state government for the local government councils in July was so much that they would have been able to pay July salary and keep reserve to augment  the short-fall recorded in August allocations to enable them effectively take care of August recurrent expenditure. But feelers suggest that the feeling of uncertainty by members of the councils’ transition committees led by the chairmen on when they will be dissolved by the state government have made them engage in financial recklessness with little or no projects to show for it, thus plunging the local government councils into bankruptcy and imminent indebtedness  to banks.

It was not immediately clear if the drop in August allocation as released by the Delta  State government is what is accruing to the  local government councils from the federal allocation or a deliberate attempt by the state government to checkmate the financial recklessness of the transition committee chairmen, but Fresh Angle investigation across the councils reveals that if substantial amount is not released as September allocation to the local governments a major strike is imminent among staff of the 25 councils who are already gearing up for a show- down.

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