Ex-Ebonyi Councillors Give Umahi 14 Days To Produce LGA Audited Accounts

Former councillors in Ebonyi State, under the umbrella of the G64 Former Coordinators’ Forum, have demanded audited accounts of the 13 local government areas of the state from 2015 to 2020.

The forum also wrote the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) where it requested the details of the funds that accrued to the LGAs in Ebonyi State in the period under review. The two letters dated 6th January, 2021, and seen by our correspondent in Abakaliki, were signed by their counsel, Amos Ogbonna and Ajah Ogbonnaya, of Amos Ogbonnaya and Co, Ebekuedike Chambers. They said they based their requests on the provisions of sections 1, 2 and 4 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.

Aside the details of all allocations from the federation account from June 2015 to December 2020, the forum also demanded Gov Umahi to provide it with the details of the 10 percent of the state government’s internally-generated revenues (IGR) accruable to the LGAs.

The letter to the governor read in part, “The said audited accounts should include all outgoings therefrom, this is to say, how the said allocations were disbursed or spent. We want to also know how many state projects were executed in each local government, and how much of the council fund was spent on each project.

“We also demand detailed information of all allocations due and made to the 64 local government development centres of Ebonyi State (if any) within the period. Take notice that the information or record requested to be delivered to our Abakaliki office within the period of two weeks from the service of this letter.

“If by the close of work on Friday 22 January, 2021, your office fails, refuses or neglects to deliver the said information, we shall be left with no further option than to seek legal redress pursuant to section 2(6) of the Freedom of Information Act.”