Edo begins disbursement of N1.3b allocation

The Edo State Government on Tuesday said it has commenced the disbursement of over N1.3 billion to the state’s Council of Traditional Rulers.

The government said the money serves as arrears of the five per cent of the local government allocations due to the traditional rulers, which was warehoused by the government when there was crisis within the council.

Addressing a joint press conference in Benin on Tuesday, the duo of Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Monday Osaigbovo, said that the disbursement of the funds had since commenced.

Nehikhare said that prior to the coming of the Governor Godwin Obaseki administration, what was being released to the traditional council as its statutory five per cent allocation, was the amount due from the basic allocation to the 18 local government areas in the state, excluding other components such as the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Excess Crude earnings.

He further explained that the arrears of the VAT and excess crude earnings from July 2022, and the amount due which the council agreed that government should warehouse when a misunderstanding arose in April 2023, were added together to arrive at the over N1.3 billion being shared to the traditional rulers.

He said their was no time the government withheld the allocation to the traditional rulers, stressing that it only wanted the issues within the council to be resolved before disbursing the funds.

According to him, out of the N1.3 billion, the Council of Traditional Rulers in the seven local governments in Edo South Senatorial Districts got the sum of N639.2 million, shared, with the Benin Traditional Council (BTC) getting N319.6 million, while the other traditional rulers in the remaining local governments got N255.7 million.

Nehikhare also said that while traditional rulers in the six local government areas of Edo north Senatorial District got the sum of N377.6 million, those from the five local governments in Edo Central Senatorial District got N299.8 million.

Nehikhare disclosed that the state government would explore the possibilities of giving additional responsibilities to traditional rulers in the state especially in the security of their domains, as the security of lives and property remained the priority of the government.