By Ogar Monday, House of Assembly Correspondent
The Chairman, Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts, Hon. Steve Ukpukpen has stated emphatically that any Local Government Council that is found to have questions hanging over its revenue remittances will be sent to the revenue court for prosecution.
Hon. Ukpukpen decried situations in the past where councils were left off the hook by the Executive after the Legislature has found them culpable and had sent a resolution to the Executive.
The member representing Obudu in the House of Assembly, made this known when the Committee on Public Accounts held a meeting with the Local Councils in the Northern Senatorial District to reconcile the revenue of the councils.
His words, “Some of the councils generate enough revenue to run their affairs but due to mismanagement nothing reasonable is seen. Any council with any question mark will be sent to the revenue court where the Chief Judge will appoint a judge to look into the case.”
He said the meeting which is supposed to hold quarterly and to act as oversight on the local governments’ revenue generation and remittance has been stunted since this administration came on board.
On his part, the Cross River State Auditor General of Local Government, Mr. Anthony Ayine said that he had some years ago foreseen a situation like this and had advised the local governments through the state to beef up their revenue base in case of instances like this.
The AG further advised the councils to be innovate in their quest for economic sustainability as they all have the potentials to run their councils without any funds from outside.
The meeting which was supposed to allow the Committee on Public Accounts to examine the books of the councils was later postponed to an unannounced date as all the councils present had one or two issues they needed to sort out in their accounts.
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