Indigenes of Kebbi State under the auspices of Kebbi Awareness Forum (KAF) has called on? the Kebbi State House of Assembly? to probe an alleged mismanagement of the joint account operated by the state government and its 21 Local government areas.
Their request is coming on the heels of allegation that state funds were approved for the purchase of ghost materials, false contracts and several monies released for construction of projects that were not executed.
Addressing journalists in Kaduna over the weekend, the forum alleged that the local government system in the state was collapsing due to massive corruption by those managing the joint local government account, just as it maintained that the time was ripe for the state Assembly and the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFFC) to wade into the matter by investigating the matter and bring the perpetrators to book.
The Chairman of the forum, Alhaji Kabiru Sani, accused the Kebbi State government of allegedly siphoning billions of naira from the joint account, thereby starving the local government councils with funds.
He said while the state government claimed that it had spent millions of naira for the purchase and installation of transformers to local governments in the state, there was nothing to show for it.
Alleging that the state government spent N267 m for the purchase of motorcycles for youth empowerment at an inflated price, the group stressed that the joint account had become an avenue for siphoning funds, hence frustrating the efficient running of the councils.
Sani said, “As I address you today, the local government system in Kebbi State is suffering set back in the name of state and local governments’ joint account. Billions of naira were being siphoned and carted away, using fictitious companies and false contracts.
When contacted, the Senior Adviser on Media and Publicity to the state governor, Ibrahim Argungu dismissed the allegations, saying the claims of the forum was full of lies and untenable.
He said, “To the best of my knowledge, I am not aware of all this. He (Argungu) is just speaking rubbish. If he was serious, knowing very well that each media has a correspondent here, why did he go to kaduna to address a conference?
Why will he not address a press conference in Kebbi State where he knows that journalists will ask him questions because they know the state? Instead, he went to address those who doesn’t know anything about the state. Everything he said are all rubbish and lies.”