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Tag: LG

  • Kaduna LG poll: APC wins 12, PDP takes five, others pending

    Kaduna LG poll: APC wins 12, PDP takes five, others pending

    The Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) on Monday declared the local government elections results for Chikun as inconclusive.

    Samuel Ndams, SIECOM returning officer for Chikun local government, who made the announcement, said only results from seven wards out of the 12 wards of the area were submitted.

    Ndams said results from five wards were not submitted at the collation centre, “therefore after due consultation with the SIECOM headquarters we decided to declare the LG polls in Chikun local government inconclusive”.

    Meanwhile, official results declared by returning officers indicate that the ruling APC maintains its lead in 12 local government areas, while the PDP won in five local government areas, even as results from three LGs are still pending, making a total of 21 LGs.

    Election did not hold in Jaba and Kaura local government areas.

    In Kubau, Muhammed Tukur Bashir, the returning officer, declared Sabo Aminu of the APC who scored 46,535 votes as the winner of the poll, beating Umar Abdullahi of the PDP who scored 13,398 votes.

    In Giwa, Abu Shehu Lawal Giwa of the APC won with 57,005 votes defeating Bello Shehu Kago of the PDP who got 2,673 votes as declared by Muhammed Sani, the LG returning officer.

    Musa Yusuf, the returning officer of Kauru local government, declared PDP’s Shuaibu Goma, who scored 24,393 votes as the winner against Bashir Tanko of the APC with 21,564 votes.

    Also, John Mallam Lugards, the returning officer for Ikara LG, has announced Ibrahim Salihu Sadiq of the APC who polled 42,312 votes as the winner for Ikara polls, defeating his PDP counterpart Abdullahi Aliyu who scored 9,248 votes.

    In Lere, Aminu Ahmed Muhammed, returning officer, has declared Abubakar Buba of the APC who scored 92,854 as the winner, beating Jumare Tanimu Magaji of the PDP with 16,231 votes.

    Micah Victor, returning officer for Sabon Gari local government, announced Mohammed Ibrahim Usman of the APC as the winner after scoring 20, 576 votes against PDP’s Suleiman Ibrahim Gambo with 9,580 votes.

    Similarly, Ahmed Kofa, returning officer for Igabi local government, announced Jabir Khamis of the APC who scored 47,630 as duly elected chairman, beating Abubakar Abubakar of the PDP with 2,449 votes.

    In Sanga, Samuel Shamaki of the PDP emerged winner of the chairmanship contest with 20,843 votes, beating Charles Danladi of the APC, who got 19,757 votes.

    Similarly, Nuhu Garba, SIECOM’s returning officer announced PDP’s Peter Agite as the winner in the Kachia local government chairmanship contest with 42,242 votes to beat his APC counterpart, Peter Dan-Baki, who got 33, 817 votes.

    Returning officer, Kaduna north LG, Umar Hayatu announced APC’s Saleh Shuaibu, who scored 168,572 votes as the winner, beating Muhammad Sabo Babayaro of the PDP who got 12,467 votes, while the PRP candidate had. 4,956 votes.

    In Zangon Kataf local government area, Elias Maza won with 55,643 votes, against the APC candidate, John Hassan with 31,514 votes.

    In Jema’a local government, Arnaold Makeri, the returning officer, announced Peter Averik of the PDP winner with 45,361 votes to beat Cecelia Musa of the APC who got 25, 973 votes.

    Lawal Abdullahi-Tukur, returning officer for Kudan LG, announced APC’s Shu’aibu Bawa-Jaja with 72,021 votes as the winner in the chairmanship contest beating PDP’s Kabiru Isiaku who got 3,394 votes

    Aliyu Umar, returning officer Soba LG, also announced that Mohammed Mahmud Aliyu of the APC who scored 40,903 votes as the elected chairman against the PDP candidate Muhammad Surajo Tukur who got 13,835 votes.

    In Zaria LG, Aliyu Idris Ibrahim of the APC won with 42,859 votes to beat PDP’s Yusuf Namadi with 16,033 votes.

    Similarly, Musa Abdullahi Mahdi, returning officer for Makarfi LG said APC’s Kabiru Musa Mayere won with 25,199 votes against Ibrahim Isyaku of the PDP who scored 13,088 votes.

    SIECOM announced APC as the winner of Birnin Gwari local government area but results not yet obtained.

    The official results for Kagarko and Kajuru LGs were yet to be ascertained, while that of Kaduna south is still being awaited.

    While the APC and the state government have commended the results so far released as reflecting the wish of the people, the PDP has cried foul, saying most of the results were fabricated.

  • Saraki restates support for LG autonomy

    President of the Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has reiterated his support for local government autonomy in the country.

    Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sanni Onogu, in Abuja on Saturday, said this during a visit by the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), led by its National President, Mr Ibrahim Khalil.

    He said that the Senate and the indeed the National Assembly appreciated the importance of autonomous governance at the third tier of government and would continue to work towards its realisation.

    “Here in the Senate and the National Assembly, we appreciate the importance of governance in the third tier of government, the local government.

    “As such, it is very important that we strengthen local government administration.

    “Part of strengthening local government administration is ensuring that there is autonomy. I also believe that strengthening local government administration means that we all do our best to increase the capacity at the local government.

    “Sometimes, you find out that in developed countries, people who are competent to contest at a level even as high as the Senate, would tell you that they don’t want to be at the Federal level like Abuja or Washington, they prefer to stay at the local level,” he said.

    Saraki told the local government employees that it was also important to see that local governments were properly and independently funded.

    “However, there must be a symbiotic relationship between the states and the local governments to ensure that the third tier of government is not placed at a disadvantage.

    “It is unfortunate that you observed that in the last Constitution alteration exercise, we were not successful on this issue. Being a former Governor, the Senate Leader always reminds me that ‘I have seen the light.’ But on a serious note, we all have a role to play to strengthen our local government system.

    “It is important that we see how local governments can be independent, how local governments can have more autonomy, and Governors cannot interfere with what is due to local governments.

    “In all of this, there must still be a cordial and symbiotic relationship. If we just say that local governments should just be on their own, it might have some disadvantages.

    “We must also look at how we can ensure that local governments have funding of their own without any interference,” Saraki stated.

    Saraki also noted that following the last Constitutional Review exercise embarked on by the National Assembly, only nine states were in support of local government autonomy.

    The president of the Senate, however, promised to do more to ensure that further cooperation and collaboration was achieved to rectify the issue.

    Earlier, the National President of NULGE, Ibrahim Khalil lamented that local government administrations in the country had been rendered impotent over the years as a result of undue interference.

    “Our visit is to rekindle efforts and bring all hands on deck to ensure that Local Governments become autonomous in this country.

    “We recognise that the leadership of the National Assembly has a critical role to play in ensuring that Local Governments become autonomous in the country.

  • Photos, videos of children voting in Kano’s LG elections misleading – Ganduje

    Photos, videos of children voting in Kano’s LG elections misleading – Ganduje

    …says ‘I can’t be controlled from outside’

    Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State has said viral photos and videos of underage children voting in last Saturday’s local government elections as ‘propaganda’ used by his political enemies to thwart his goodwill in the state.

    Recall that the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, won 100 per cent of all chairmanship and councillor seats in all the 44 local governments in the state.

    However, the social media has been awash with images of children queuing to vote, sparking national outrage.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Monday washed its hands off the scandal, saying the election was conducted by the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission.

    Speaking with journalists at the presidential villa on Tuesday, Mr. Ganduje said the images were simply propaganda orchestrated by his political opponents loyal to his predecessor, Rabiu Kwankwaso.

    “Ask the international observers who went there, they held a press conference after they went round. All those pictures of children are pictures of assembled children they took, so it’s not true, it is part of the propaganda,” he said.

    He also said Mr. Kwankwaso who is a Senator, resorted to propaganda because of his failure to go to Kano and participate in the election.

    “Ask them, did they go back to the state to queue up and take part in the election? They were not able to do so, so we don’t even need to respond to such falsehood,” he said.

    “What is important is to ask those who are credible and who witnessed the election; that is what is important than relying on the social media where things are crafted, we don’t rely on that,” he said.

    Speaking on his alleged feud with his predecessor, Ganduje said although his politics is not complete without Kwankwaso while that of Kwankwaso cannot be complete without his (Ganduje) too.

    In his words: “But one important thing is that you cannot rule and manage a state and you are being controlled from outside, you know that one is very difficult to happen if you look at the psychology of leaders. That is the issue,” he said.

  • Osun LG election witnesses low turnout

    Osun LG election witnesses low turnout

    Osun Local Government Election witnessed a low turnout on Saturday, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    NAN correspondents monitored the election in Osogbo, Ayedade, Irewole and Ile-Ife Local Government Areas.

    They report that ad-hoc staff of the State Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) arrived at polling units on time but with just a few voters to attend to.

    At St. Peter Primary School, Unit 1, Otun Balogun Ward, Gbongan in Ikire Local Government, the turnout of electorate was low.

    Speaking with NAN, Mr Olasiyan Sikiru, All Progressive Congress (APC) party agent, decried the unimpressive turnout of the electorate.

    Sikiru said out of 600 registered voters at the ward, only 40 came out to vote as at 10a.m.

    “We are hopeful that people will still come out but aside the low turnout, the election is going on smoothly.”

    Mr Oladele Adelowo, the Accord Party agent at Unit 2, Otun Balogun ward, said the low turnout of the electorate was because the election fell on the market day.

    Adelowo, however, commended the OSIEC staff for arriving at the polling unit on time.

    Mr Adeshina Olatokunbo, the ward returning officer, said the election was peaceful without any challenges.

    Olatokunbo said it was expected that more electorate would still come out to vote.

    At Unit 2, Eketa Ward in Osogbo Local Government, NAN also observed that the turnout was also low.

    The accreditation of voters and voting, however, went on smoothly.

    Low turnout of voters was also witnessed in Ile-Ife.

    At Iremo Unit 13, Ward 3 in Ile-Ife, the turnout of the voters was low with late arrival of voting materials.

    Miss Damilola Omiyefa, APC party agents decried non-availability of voting materials as at 10a.m. and low voters turnout.

    NAN reports that the election, which was conducted in the parliamentary pattern, is for ward councillors only who will in turn choose their council chairmen among themselves.

    This pattern of the election runs contrary to the existing presidential system whereby both the councillors and chairmen are voted directly by the electorate.

     

    NAN

     

  • FAAC: FG, States, LGs share N655bn revenue in December

    The federal and the other tiers of government on Tuesday shared a total of N655.177 billion as revenue that accrued to the Federation Account and proceeds of the Value Added Tax in December 2017.

    The money was shared at Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting in Abuja yesterday. Addressing journalists at the end of the meeting, the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, said that N540.446 billion.

    The federal government got N252.543 billion, states, N128.093 billion, local governments got N98.755 billion while N47.738 billion was shelled out as 13 per cent derivation to oil producing states.

    Also another N80.604 billion was from proceeds of Value Added Tax (VAT), with the federal government receiving N13.091 billion, state governments, N40.302 billion and local governments N28.211 billion.

    The statutory allocation of N540.446 billion, excluding VAT, received for the month was lower than the N549.533 billion received in the previous month by N9.087 billion.

    The minister, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), explained that the decrease in crude oil exports by 0.59 million barrels resulted in decreased revenues from export sales of $11.65 million.

    Adeosun disclosed that the accruals into the Excess Crude Account (ECA) still stood at $2.317 billion.
    In his remarks after the meeting, the chairman of Finance Commissioners’ Forum, Alhaji Mahmoud Yunusa, said states were cutting costs in line with economic realities.

     

  • FG, States, LG share N637.7bn revenue in September

    The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris, has disclosed that the Federal Government, States and Local Governments shared N637.704 billion in September.

    Idris made this known at the end of the monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

    He said that the sum indicated a rise in the revenue shared by the three tiers of government of N169 billion for September compared to about N467.8 billion shared in August.

    According to him, the sum is inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT).

    “Total revenue statutory gross is N550.992 billion, there is also an element of VAT of N86.712 billion, making it a total of N637.704 billion.

    “And this figure is distributed among the three-tiers of government after deduction of relevant cost of collection due to the revenue generating agencies.

    “On the whole, the Federal Government out of the gross statutory revenue got N263.609 billion, States received N132.184 billion and Local Government received N101.908 billion.

    “On the whole, it is evident from the records and from what we have distributed today that the figure distributed this month is by far greater than the distribution for the previous month by N169,852 billion.”

    According to Idris, there is derivation to the oil producing states of N41.977 billion.

    He said there was also an element of value added tax that was generated to the tune of N86.712 billion which was distributed among the three-tiers of government.

    He said the Federal Government got N12.87 billion; State government got N41.622 billion while the Local Government got N29.135 billion, “making a total of N83.244 billion; that is after deduction of cost of collection’’.

    Idris said that the balance in Excess Crude Account (ECA) stood at 2.309 billion dollars as at Sept. 27, 2017, adding that, “there is also the excess Petroleum Pofit Tax (PPT) of 68 million dollars”.

    He said that during the period under review, there was a decrease in the average price of crude oil from 51.05 to 50.44 dollars per barrel.

    He said that there was a significant increase in export volume by 0.85 million barrels and an export sales revenue for the federation increased by 41 million dollars.

    “The perennial challenges of shut-ins and shot downs at terminals caused minimal negative impact on crude oil operations during the period.

    “There were significant increases in revenue from companies income and petroleum profit taxes. Also import and excise duties and VAT recorded marginal increases,’’ he said.

  • We pay 60% of LG workers in Nasarawa for idleness – Commissioner

    The Nasarawa State Commissioner of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr Haruna Osegba, has said more than 60 per cent of local government workers in the state are receiving salaries for doing nothing.

    “We have discovered that over 60 percent of staff at the local government levels are not going to work, but only come to receive salary at the end of the month,’’ he told newsmen on Tuesday in Lafia.

    Osegbe who met with members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in the state, said the government had established a machinery to check the situation.

    The commissioner said the government was worried that the salaries of local government workers were being paid in a piecemeal in the last one year even though most of the workers do not even go to work.

    “We have put a machinery in motion to check this trend and anyone found culpable would face serious disciplinary action,” he added.

    Osegba said that the ministry would promote “all dedicated local government workers to boost their morale.’’

    He said that the state Local Government Service Commission had conducted a screening of genuine local council workers and would release the list of those cleared soon.

    The commissioner further said that the government was doing its best to restore full salary payment to all local government workers as of when due.

     

    NAN

  • Just in: Senate rejects devolution, approves autonomy for LG’s

    The several calls for restructuring hit a brick wall on Wednesday as the Nigerian Senate voted to reject a proposal to amend the 1999 Constitution to devolve more powers to the states.

    Using electronic voting, 48 of 95 Senators present voted against the proposal, which had been challenged on Tuesday by Adamu Aliero, who argued it should not stand without reviewing the revenue sharing formula to give more money to states.

    The Senate has voted in support of the Local Government Autonomy and areas up for amendment in the 1999 Constitution.

    The Senate also voted against devolution of powers, while the Federal lawmakers have voted in favour of immunity in respect of words spoken or written at plenary sessions.

    The lawmakers are also voting in favour of the amendments that the President must nominate Ministers within 30 days and attach the portfolios of the Ministers to the Senate when sending for confirmation.

    The Senate voted the separation of the office of the Minister and Commissioner of Justice from the Attorney General of the Federation and of states to create an independent office of the Attorney General of the Federation insulated from partisanship.

    The clause makes it obligatory for the President to deliver a State of the Nation address in a joint session of the National Assembly.

  • BREAKING: Senate approves INEC to conduct LG elections

    The Senate at the plenary on Tuesday approved that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC to conduct local government area elections.

    President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, who presided over the debate on the report by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Constitution Review, put the proposed amendment to vote and the ayes had it.

  • Why Lagos LG election was delayed – LASIEC

    Chairman of the Lagos State Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, has attributed the delayed take off of the voting process in Saturday’s council polls in some parts of the state to heavy downpour.

    Speaking with newsmen while monitoring some polling units in Yaba area of the state, she said the downpour affected the movements of electoral materials.

    She appealed to those who were yet to vote on the affected area to exercise patience as the commission was addressing the situation.

    The chairman assured that all eligible voters would vote, as materials were being deployed to the affected areas.

    Philips said the commission would allow some people to vote beyond the 3 pm deadline if there was the need to do so.

    “The delay in the delivery of materials in some areas, hence voting, is caused by the heavy downpour.

    “However, we are addressing the situation and we are assuring that everybody in the affected areas will vote.

    “Once people have been accredited and are on queue, they will be allowed to vote even after 3pm,” she said.

    She expressed satisfaction with the peaceful conduct in most areas.

    Phillips said there were few incidences of violence in some areas but said security agents had quelled the situation.

    The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) correspondent who went with the LASIEC boss on the monitoring reports that that the turnout was low in some areas visited.

    At polling unit 028,ward G in Yaba, out of the 644 registered voters, only 82 had voted as of 1pm of the visit.

    The polling clerk in the unit, Mrs Mosunmola Taiwo, said the downpour contributed to the slow takeoff and low participation.

    She, however, expressed hope more people would turn out for the exercise before 3pm deadline.

    The situation was however different at polling unit 004 in the same ward as the Presiding Officer, Mr Bishi Usman said the turnout was impressive.

    “The exercise is going on fine. People are coming out. I have exhausted the first booklet; I am on the second voting booklet. It is so far, so good,” he said.

    NAN