-Spend millions on lawyer to withdraw case against chairmen
-Ita Enang confirms misappropriation at LG level
Facts from office of the Accountant General of the Federation have confirmed that 31 local government areas in Akwa Ibom State, received a total sum of ₦338,214,282,091,05 as Total Net Allocation from the Federation Account for July 2024 to July 2026.
A breakdown of the amount shows that Net Statutory Allocation for the 31 LGAs was ₦135,008,526,936,192b; Augmentation of ₦240B from Non-Oil Revenue was ₦16,738,299,888,000; while a Total Share of Ecology for the 31 LGAs was ₦28,157, 683, 533,53B
Under Transfer of %50 of Ecology to NDDC/HYPPADEC, the LGAs got a total sum of ₦28,157, 683, 533,53B. No allocation was recorded for LGAs in Akwa Ibom under Net Share of Ecology, while Value Added Tax was ₦216,891,497,639,97b.
The facts were disclosed by the Office of the Accountant-General, Federal Account Department on Tuesday June, 2026.
However, facts show that despite proclamation of Independence of local government council by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, local government money is still rooted through Joint Account.
It can be recalled that the Federal High Court in Uyo had granted two lawyers leave to commence judicial review proceedings against the 31 local government councils in Akwa Ibom State over alleged refusal to release public records requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011.
The applicants, Akaninyene Archibong and Edidiong Ebong, were seeking court orders that would compel the councils to disclose records relating to public spending, subsidy programmes, policy documents, licences and approvals issued by the councils from November 2024 to date.
The suit, marked FHC/UY/CS/80/2026, is before Justice M. A. Onyetenu of the Federal High Court, Uyo. The applicants, through their counsel, Mr Ebong, filed a motion ex parte on 22 April seeking leave to apply for judicial review pursuant to Section 20 of the FOI Act against the 31 councils.
Facts gathered showed that, the 31 local government chairmen, through a Professor in the University of Uyo, bribed the applicants with ₦110m (One hundred and ten million naira) to terminate the court case.
The two lawyers who pushed for the case, according to available document, have secretly withdrawn the case.
It was also discovered that Akwa Ibom State Governor, through Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Frank Archibong, direct how much should be shared Joint Account with local government, still decide how much should be shared to local council chairmen.
The Nigeria’s ambassador to Germany, Ambassador Ita Enang, who recently visited the state raised alarm over poor performance of Itu local government chairman, Hon. Ubong Ukut despite huge amount of money collected from the Federation account.
Meanwhile, it was discovered that the Akwa Ibom state Governor has given a standing order that One billion naira should be deducted from the local government account for pension.
The order still exists as at filing this report.