The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over the released guidelines by the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) on granting financial autonomy to Local Governments.
The NGF in a letter signed by Chairman and Governor of Zamfara, Abdulaziz Yari, and made available to newsmen on Sunday in Abuja, expressed “dismay and anger” over NFIU action. The NGF sees the initiative as an attempt to dabble into a matter that is beyond its mandate.
Yari accused the NFIU of “stoking mischief and also deliberately seeking to cause disaffection, chaos and overheat the polity”.
The NFIU, which was excised from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), set June 1, 2019, as the takeoff date of the new order, making it compulsory for all local council allocations to go straight to their respective bank accounts.
The decision is contained in a guideline released by the NFIU after a meeting with officials of commercial banks in Abuja.
