Osun State House of Assembly yesterday alleged that about N50billion from the local governments’ allocations have been diverted by the reinstated council executives of the All Progressives Congress (APC), ‘’which has exposed grassroots to deterioration and hardship.’
The assembly through the Speaker, Adewale Egbedun, addressing reporters at the lawmakers’ complex, said the alleged actions of the APC executives had further destabilised governance at the grassroots.
He said the assembly by the provision of law had oversight and legislative powers over 30 local government areas of Osun State.
Egbedun said N25million was paid to each of the reinstated chairmen, N12million was paid to vice-chairmen, N10million to 332 councillors, N130million to selected traditional rulers and N13billion to a law firm.
He alleged that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola and the United Bank for Africa (UBA) connived to make the diversion easy for the reinstated council executives.
According to him, ‘’reaffirming the illegality of forceful occupation of council secretariats by tenure-less politicians, the assembly condemns the callousness of the APC cronies and the minister.
“Not one naira has been paid in the last 12 months as salaries of local government workers by these illegal APC chairmen: primary school teachers – zero ; nurses and other health care workers – zero; local government workers – zero; traditional rulers not favoured by Gboyega Oyetola – zero; retirees – zero.
“Even more disturbing are reports before this House that plans are allegedly underway to disburse another Fifty Billion Naira of local government funds for political purposes, disguised as project funds, while governance at the grassroots continue to suffer. We will not tolerate the diversion of public funds meant for salaries, health care, education and community development into private hands to fund the election of a particular politician in Osun State.”
Contacted, the Chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Osun State chapter, Abiodun Idowu, said the assembly lacked proper knowledge of governance at the grassroots, urging them to seek update from Governor Ademola Adeleke rather than feeding the public with lies.
“The same assembly has been shouting that Federal Government withheld Osun local government funds. They even said the seizure has stalled governance at the grassroots, only to now say the money has been diverted by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr Gboyega Oyetola.
“The assembly needs to tell the world how a minister will be diverting fund ceased by the Federal Government, how the same fund you claimed its non-release has stalled projects at the grassroots is now being diverted to private pockets. The assembly as an institution needs to do better rather than pushing false narratives,” he said.