The Presidential Implementation Committee on Financial
Autonomy for Judiciary and Legislature has told governors to comply with the
Executive Order 10.
Signed by President Muhammadu Buhari on May 20, it mandates
all States to, henceforth, include the allocations of the legislature and the
judiciary in the first-line charge of their budgets.
The Order grants financial independence to them as against
the previous practice which was widely condemned.
Now, Houses of Assembly and the judiciary do not have to be
at the mercy of Governors for funds.
On Sunday, PIC Secretary, Ita Enang, told newsmen in Abuja,
that the financial autonomy would facilitate development and promote financial
accountability.
Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on
Niger Delta Affairs, said that Nigeria’s greatest challenge was wastage at the
state level.
The aide said one important feature of the financial
autonomy is that all the three arms of government will have full details of budget,
allocations, income, expenditure and balances of accounts.
Enang said all arms will know how much each uses in settling
salaries, allowances of officials, aides, office maintenance, among others.
The former Senator explained that the governors will no
longer be solely “responsible for expenses”.
“So what the president is doing is to ensure that Houses of
Assembly is independent not for the purpose of attacking the governors but for
checking the executive and making government more responsible”, NAN quoted him
as saying.
“The governors will know that the judiciary is independent
and same with the legislature, these arms of the government need not to get
approval from the governors in order to execute their respective duties”.
Enang added that the provision stipulated that the governors
upon receipt of federal allocation and Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), must
should remit the same to the respective arms.
“Where any governor fails to remit the money due to the
arms, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) will deduct that amount
standing to the credit of that state in the federation account and remit
directly to arms concerned.”
He expressed confidence that none of the 36 states will deprive
their state legislature or judiciary of the fund that is due to them.
Enag assured that the implementation committee will be
conciliatory and respectful of the powers of each arm of government at the
states level and the powers and privileges of the governors.
He advised all the arms of government in States to followed
the practice, already in effect at the federal level, for proper
accountability.
Last week, Abubakar Malami, the Minister of Justice, warned
that the federal government would withhold funds of states that flout Executive
Order 10.
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