Benue councils are now in crisis over allocation of funds

The council system in Benue State has been beset by a myriad of problems. The fear is that the third tier of government could collapse.

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The Sword of Damocles had been hanging over the councils, following widespread allegations of illegal deductions of council funds and the inability of the councils to deliver to the rural dwellers. This is beside the failure of council chairmen to check their councilors. The council chairmen are seen as living at the mercy of the councilors.

In the news, the 23 council chairmen are suffering from the same political ailment after 13 months in office, no council chairman had a meaningful project to show for nearly N40 billion from the Federation Account. The situation is worsened internally because of the conflicting figures between the amounts the chairmen are said to handout to their councilors and figures which the federal ministry of finance publishes.

Frustrated by the situation, the Council Chairmen, revolted by removing the ALGON Chairman, Mr. Augustine Avaan, who was accused of complicity in the woes afflicting the council chairmen.

With the exception of the Governor Gabriel Suswam and his Adviser on Local Government Affairs, Mr. Sam Ode, everyone knows that the chairmen were tired of the two years council reforms by the administration, which has made most of them lame duck, by abdicating their resources and powers to the State Bureau of Local Government Affairs.

The Council chairmen faulted the reforms as promoted by Avaan who was considered an apologist of Suswam and Ode, without consideration for his colleagues and the position of the councils in Benue.

In the removal notice, a group of 17 chairmen accused their leader of failing to provide genuine leadership for them as the third tier of government. They blamed him for the problems associated with the council system, where most chairmen are facing impeachment threats; their legislative councils have suspended many over the absence of income and expenditure accounts and inability of the chairmen to dispense political patronage to the councilors and associates.

The impeachment notice accused the sacked ALGON chairman of failing to protect the chairmen from deductions at all levels. They claimed that in some instances, council resources were deducted without Avaan informing the chairmen of the reasons behind the deductions. Also workshops were held with council resources, without Avaan informing the chairmen to attend the workshops.

The State Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs was asked not to have any dealings with Avaan on behalf of the state council chairmen. Without consultation with Suswam or Ode, the chairmen constituted what they termed, the 'Elders Committee', to reform ALGON and re-position the chairmen to get a better deal from the state government and other agencies.

To spell out the direction they are leaning, the chairmen appointed three chairmen to superintend ALGON on a caretaker basis. The new leaders are; Mr. Banjamin Dogoh, Vandeikya council chairman, Sebastine Mom, Guma council chairman and Paulinus Ochelle, Oju council chairman. The three are among the chairmen under probe by their councilors. Meanwhile the caretaker ALGON chairman, Dogoh has an impeachment notice hanging over his head. His councilors have frozen his council accounts on three occasions due to shortfalls in finances coming from the Federation Account through the Local Government Affairs Bureau as reported.

The chairmen are at the receiving end of the financial crises at the moment. Due to the leverage the chairmen enjoyed during the Akume dispensation, it is almost impossible for any chairman to convince his councilors that council funds are trapped in the State-Local Government Joint Services Account. The outcome is the gale of suspension and impeachment notices.

Report said that it was learnt that the chairmen are lobbying the members of the State House of Assembly on the issue of the deduction of council resources by the State Bureau of Local Government Affairs. This lobby paid off during the consideration of the state 2009 budget, when the state lawmakers opposed allocations made by the governor amounting to N180 million to the Bureau of Local Government Affairs. They said that it was unreasonable to allocate resources to the same Bureau that deducts council funds for projects he allocated resources from the state Assembly.

Another sign that things were getting bad was when the council chairmen refused to participate in the annual press briefing organised between the Bureau and the State union of journalist for chairmen to account for their stewardship. The chairmen cited lack of executed projects, due to the non-availability of funds as reason for not participating.

The most pressing reason the chairmen acted against their leadership was the release of excess crude funds to the three tiers of government by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), for the February, which was shared in March in Makurdi. The proximity of that FAAC meeting revealed much to most of the chairmen. Also, the statement by the Accountant General of the Federation, Ibrahim Dankwambo, that the Federal Government was unaware of the illegal deductions of council resources by states further fuelled the anger of the chairmen.

The chairmen demanded from Avaan to meet with Suswam and Ode to allow the councils 50 per cent access to the excess crude funds released in March by the Federal Government to all tiers of government to cushion the effect of the global economic crisis on governance. Avaan told his colleagues that it was impossible to retrieve any of the excess crude since they would be paid into the joint account and be operated by the state government. His colleagues felt betrayed, hence the action to remove him.

With the removal of the governor's kinsman as ALGON chairman, the chairmen passed a message to the governor. The chairmen complain of the suffocating reforms in the state that have destroyed every opportunity by them to execute projects and build on their individual popularity.

However, the governor's elder brother, Mr. Terkura Suswam intervened in the impeachment and called for the return of Avaan. He placed several announcements on the state radio and subsequently, the Avaan was reinstated.

The Chairman of the Elders Committee dissolved Elders Committee Mr. Benjamin Dowgo said that his colleagues agreed to return to status quo, after fruitful dialogue. He said that the chairmen were bound to dialogue on critical issues. Mr. Dowgo, who is also the chairman of Vandeikya, refused to comment on the problems that led to the sack of Avaan.

The fact that the chairmen allowed Avaan to return due to pressures is a source of the fresh crisis in the councils. It was learnt that the action negated the gentleman's agreement reached with councilors. The chairmen had pleaded with the councilors to give them time to put their house in order by sacking Avaan, which they claimed would translate to more resources for the councils. The failure of the move indicated that the councilors had to act.

The first casualty is the chairman of Ogbadibo council, Mr. Clement Agada, considered as the godson of the deputy governor Mr. Steven Lawani. Twelve of the 13 councilors from his council signed his suspension. Efforts by Lawani to intervene were rebuffed by the councilors.

As a result, the State House of Assembly ordered the suspension of Ogbadibo council chairman, Agada for six months over allegations of financial impropriety leveled against him by the Ogbadibo Legislative Council.

The crisis has engulfed 13 other council chairmen with the threat of suspension from their legislative councils after they were indicted for misappropriation of funds and non-performance in the last 15 months.