Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria got N1.42 trillion from disbursed federal allocations in the first five months of 2024.
This amount is 73% of the N1.95 trillion states got and 75% of the N1.88 trillion allocated to the federal government in the same period.
According to the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursement reports by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), there was a 47% increase in the amount LGAs got, rising from N963.9 billion recorded in the same period of 2023.
There is a notable increase in allocations across each month from 2023 to 2024 for January to May.
The NBS data further showed that the top 10 LGAs that got the most allocations this year are in Lagos state. In fact, the top 20 LGAs that got the most allocations are all from Lagos state.
The top 10 include Alimosho (N9.27 billion), Ajeromi/Ifelodun (N7.42 billion), Kosofe (N7.33 billion), Mushin (N7.24 billion), and Oshodi/Isolo (N7.21 billion).
Others include Ojo (N7.14 billion), Ikorodu (N7.01 billion), Surulere (N6.86 billion), Agege (N6.73 billion), and Ifako/Ijaye (N6.63 billion).
Under the current revenue-sharing formula, the federal government gets 52.68% of the revenue, states 26.72%, and local governments 20.60%. The fund enables the three tiers of government to meet their obligations.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Thursday faulted state governments for exploiting the Local Government Areas for “decades”.
The apex court further ordered the federal government to “henceforth” pay a 20.6% allocation from the federation account directly to 774 local government areas accounts for the development of the LGAs.
The verdict was given following the federal government’s suit which sought to stop the governors of 36 states from spending or tampering with 20.6% allocation from the federation account to local government areas, among other reliefs.
