Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri, yesterday revealed that the over N3.313 trillion funds allocated to the 774 local councils in the country in the past eight years was a colossal waste.

This is coming barely 24 hours after the startling revelation by the Speaker of House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, on unremitted N1.5 trillion revenue generated by NNPC into the Federation Account in the last 10 years.

The EFCC boss, who was speaking to 112 local government chairmen at the 2nd EFCC-ALGON workshop on Accountability and Transparency in Local Government Administration in Abuja, noted that the funds allocation to the councils from June 1999 to June 2007 was enough to develop the whole nation if well managed.

She, however, said that the argument that services at the grassroots cannot be achieved due to shortage of funds does not hold water anymore, adding that corruption is the main reason for not achieving development at any level of governance in the country.

According to Waziri, “figures available to us by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, from June 1999 to June 2007 a whopping N3, 313,534,856,541.79 was allocated to local government councils. She alleged that corruption is the major reason why local governments appear to be failing the people, at the local government councils.
“The problem of corruption at the local government level is everyone’s problem. If we fail at this foundational level, we would have failed at all levels, because the local councils contain nearly Nigeria’s entire rural majority.

“In tracing the origin of illicit funds, we investigate and prosecute money laundering. Unfortunately, local government officials have not left their hands unsoiled in this regard,” the EFCC boss stated.
She, therefore, called on the council chairmen to join hands with the commission in its new assault against corruption and economic crime, stressing that an anti-corruption revolution will build a new generation of Nigerian. She added that the war is also aimed at stigmatising corruption through the mobilization of communities and societies consciousness that give abusers of office the image of public heroes and not criminals.

Speaking in the same vain, Katsina Governor, Barrister Shehu Shema, and his Plateau State counterpart, Chief Jonah Jang, who were special guests on the occasion, thanked the organisers of the workshop and noted that corruption is the bane of our development and if allowed to stay will be the mother of all enemies of humanity.

Jang, who lamented the level of decay in the local government system in the country, however, said he once advocated for the scrapping of the third tier of government, pointing out that it has outlived it usefulness with the departure of colonial administrators.