PRESIDENT Buhari has accused state governors of misappropriating funds meant for the local government councils.
Speaking today while playing host to members of the Senior Executive Course 44 (2022) of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) at the State House, Abuja, the president frowned at governors’ unfair treatment of the administration at the local government level.
Narrating a personal experience involving an unnamed governor, President Buhari portrayed the sort of corrupt practices perpetrated by some governors in dispensing resources meant for local government councils.
According to him, it beats anyone’s imagination how some state governors would collect money on behalf of council areas in their states, only to remit just half of such allocation to the council chairman, who would further deplete the remittance in further pilfering of public resources.
He, however, related the development to the question of lack of integrity in the character of many of those holding such offices as governorship and council chairmanship.
He said it was beyond the comprehension of anyone how certain state governors would collect money on behalf of council areas in their states, only to return half of such allocation to the council Chairman, who would further deplete the remittance in further theft of public funds.
“Speaking from personal experience, a Chief Executive of a state, a qualified lawyer, trained, the treatment of local governments, what they did, this is my personal experience. If the monies from the federal government to state governments is 100 million (naira), let’s put it at N100 million. N50 million will be sent to the chairman with a letter that he will sign that he received 100 million.
“The governor will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wanted to and then the chairman of the local government will see how much he must pay in salaries, to hell goes development. Monies for the salaries will be given and the balance will put in his pocket. This is what is happening.
“This is Nigeria, it’s a terrible thing, You cannot say the person who was doing these was not educated, he was a qualified lawyer, he was experienced, yet he participated in this type of corruption.
“So, it’s a matter of conscience, whichever level we find ourselves. As a leader, you sit here, with all the sacrifices the country is making by putting you through institutions and getting you ready to lead. The fundamental thing is personal integrity. May God help us”, he said.
The President pledged that the government will carefully review the recommendations made in SEC 44’s presentation with a view to putting them into implementation.
President Buhari stated that his administration had done much to foster trust between the government and the people adding that the report would largely help in the provision of good governance to the people at the grassroots levels and, by extension, win back their trust in government.
It is obvious that government cannot afford to pay lip-service to the recommendations contained in this report. I assure you that the Report will be treated with the seriousness and urgency it deserves. Government will study the report with the view to implementing the carefully detailed recommendations,’’ he said.
