Dep Gov Warns Council Administrators Against Fiscal Irresponsibility

Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmi Olayinka, has warned local government administrators in the state to stay clear of any act of fiscal irresponsibility, saying that the state government would not take kindly to such act.

Speaking yesterday at Iloro-Ekiti, venue of the two day workshop on Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), for top functionaries in the state local government councils, she explained that the administration of Dr. Kayode Fayemi has concluded arrangements to have members of the grassroots serve as first point of assessment for whatever project that is being handled by the third tier of government.

She said the workshop designed to institutionalize responsible fiscal management of the available resources is planned to further acquaint administrators of our local government councils of the provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) towards the preparation, implementation and institutionalization of the MTEF.

Olayinka stated that the administration which bought into the essence of the FRA, which includes prudent management of the nation’s resources, as well as ensuring long term macro-economic stability of the national economy, adding that the government wants to secure greater accountability and transparency in fiscal operations within a medium term fiscal policy framework, and ensure compliance with aggregate expenditure ceiling for establishments.

She said the current government in the state was encouraged by the successes it has recorded at the state level through the robust implementation of MTEF to the extent that it was prepared to introduce the policy to its local government areas, which is the closest to the people. She expressed hope that MTEF in the third tier of government will assist in the areas of projects selection and budgeting process, while deepening community ownership of such facilities and the post implementation sustenance.

She added that MTEF in the local councils will ensure that governance is no longer business as usual, since government’s plan is to ensure that the era of impunity by public officers is gone for good, as the people would be encouraged to take their destinies in their hands. She said:

“I want to assure you that the introduction of MTEF will not only align the council areas with the state government, it will help to set a new paradigm that will identify activities and projects to be embarked upon in any particular year. It will also use budget platform to provide resources for their implementation and elicit questions from the populace as to whether set targets were being met”.

Olayinka hinted that the report of the Committee on the review of Local Government bye-laws are being studied and would be given accelerated processing to give actions of the local government legal backing so that there would be no excuse at the point of reviewing your Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) performance.

Earlier in his address of welcome at the event, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, Mr. Ayodeji Ajayi observed that the decision to introduce MTEF to the local councils is in the best interest of the people towards devising new ways of achieving government’s purposes for even development and increased standard of living. He urged participants at the workshop to be mindful of the special position of posterity in taking records of their deeds, explaining that their individual contributions will help a lasting new local government system.

Last modified: February 8, 2013