Abia Accountant-General expresses concern over dwindling federal allocation to states

The Accountant-General of Abia, Chief Gabriel Onyendilefu, has expressed worry over the dwindling federal allocation to states.
Onyendilefu made the observation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Friday.
He said that the development had affected the activities of the state government.

Onyendilefu attributed the drop in the federal allocation to the fall in the nation’s oil revenue and appealed to the Federal Government to sustain efforts to diversify the economy.
‘’You know the nation operates a mono-economy and each time there is fluctuation either in the quantity or price of oil, it affects the allocation to states,’’ he said.
Onyendilefu said that it had become increasingly difficult for the state to meet some of its financial obligations.

He said that the state government had tried to tie its activities to the available resources.
‘’Gov. Theodore Orji also has demonstrated prudence in the management of the available resources by shelving certain activities to be able to cope with the immediate challenges.

‘’He has pruned down on government activities that do not have direct economic impact,’’ he said.
According to him, what the governor is doing is to prioritise its programmes.
He said that the shortfall in the allocation was being augmented with the internally generated revenue.
Onyendilefu said that Nigeria could no longer meet its oil production quota as a result of the activities of vandals, bunkering, oil theft and destruction of installations by militants and hoodlums.
He urged the Federal Government not to relent in its war against economic saboteurs in order to increase the nation’s oil production level as well as its revenue.
The accountant general also spoke on the downward review of the state’s 2014 budget by the House of Assembly from N149.6 billion to N115.3 billion, representing a drop by 23 per cent.
He said that the review was in compliance with the International Public Sector Accounting Standards which, according to him, emphasises realistic budgeting at all levels of government.