The Ogun State Government has provided additional details regarding the management of local government funds, assuring that no funds belonging to the 20 council areas were missing or mishandled.
The Secretary to the State Government, Tokunbo Talabi, made this announcement during a press briefing held at the governor’s office in Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
It is worth recalling that the Chairman of Ijebu-East Local Government, Wale Adedayo, had been suspended after alleging that the state Governor, Dapo Abiodun, had diverted council funds, leaving the local governments without the necessary funds for project implementation.
In response to these allegations, the state government promptly refuted the claims. Furthermore, 19 out of the 20 council chairmen expressed their support for the government by prostrating before Governor Abiodun in Abeokuta and pleading on behalf of the suspended chairman of Ijebu-East Local Government.
The State House of Assembly is currently investigating the matter, and it has been reported that the Department of State Services arrested Adedayo for questioning in connection with the allegations.
Speaking further, Talabi said, “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.
“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.
“That is why this administration can boast today that it has executed projects in all local governments. And these were not done without the consent and inputs of the local government operatives.”
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.
“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.
