…suspends monthly meeting
The uncertainty surrounding direct disbursement of monthly federation allocation funds to the 774 local government councils as envisaged this month led to an abrupt cancellation of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting last night in Abuja, New Telegraph authoritatively learned.
Multiple insider sources close to FAAC confided in New Telegraph that while technical session, which is the first leg of FAAC meeting had held in the morning hours, with state commissioners of finance and other stakeholders in attendance, the plenary session was, however, called off unexpectedly, with a promise that a new date would be announced.
The source said: “Today is FAAC. Infact, the technical session took place in the morning with stakeholders fully represented. The plenary session was ongoing this evening, the session in which figures due to each tier of government is to be discussed, when information came to us that it should be suspended. A new date would be announced,” he said.
Effort to speak with the Director of information in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Mallam Bawa Mokwa, yielded no result. He neither picked his call nor responded to messages sent to his Whatsapp line requesting clarification.
Director of information in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Mohammed Manga, denied knowledge of FAAC postponement. He told New Telegraph on the phone that he was upstairs in his office working on a press statement.
“Has FAAC been postponed? You are just telling me. I didn’t know because I have been here working on a tax appeal tribunal inauguration press statement.
I will go downstairs later,” Manga said over the phone. Local government councils in the country were expected to receive December FAAC allocation disbursement in their respective accounts in line with the Supreme Court ruling of last year, which ruled in favour of financial autonomy for 774 local government councils in the country.
The plan to credit the local government council accounts for December 2024 FAAC allocation disbursed in January 2025 was stalled due to inability of the local government councils to conclude procedures for account opening with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
It was learned that while some local government had finished with the bank account opening procedures with the CBN, a sizable number had yet to run through with the process as requested by CBN.
