The Ogun State Government has given further an insights into the handling of local government funds noting that no dime that belonged to the 20 council areas were missing or tampered with.
Disclosing this during a news briefing with journalists at the governor’s office Abeokuta, the Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, said over N 1.8bn has been provided for the LG council since the beginning of his administration.
“Up to date, the state government has provided over N1.8bn for all these local governments to do independent projects in addition to whatever the state government has done, in addition to whatever the federal government has done and in addition to funding the deficit.
“The concept of zero allocation has not taken place. Otherwise, how have we been paying the teachers? How have we been paying the healthcare workers? How have we been paying the traditional council? How have we been paying the pensioners? How have we been paying the local government staff themselves? How is the chairman getting paid all these years? And then, we have what is called the security vote for the chairman.
Giving more insight into the workings of the Joint Account Allocation Committee, the Economic Adviser and Commissioner-designate, Mr Dapo Okubadejo, noted that JAAC is a statutory and legal instrument that operates in other states.
Noting that the state government has been able to execute many local road Projects in the State, Talabi stressed these projects were executed without the input of the local government councils.
“At the beginning of this administration, His Excellency asked the local government chairmen and other stakeholders to present three roads that are more important to them in the order of priority.
“The process of a local government account, financing or funding started many years ago, with the introduction of what we refer to as the Joint Account Allocation Committee. That’s the body that is responsible for the administration and the management of the local government direct allocation from the Federal Government,” he said.
Recall that the Ijebu-East Local Government Chairman, Wale Adedayo, was suspended after he accused the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, of diverting council funds, and living the LGs in the state without funds to execute projects.
But the state government, in a swift reaction, denied the allegation when 19 out of the 20 council chairmen prostrated before Abiodun in Abeokuta and pleaded on behalf of the suspended Ijebu-East LG chairman.
The State House of Assembly is also looking into the matter, while the Department of State Services was said to have arrested Adedayo for questioning.
