Ogun State House of Assembly has accused a former governor of the state, Ibikunle Amosun, of short-changing local governments in the distribution of federal allocation during his administration.
The assembly, during plenary on Thursday, said it discovered that Amosun’s administration paid N12 million to LGs and Local Council Development Areas in six-month installments for the 30 months under review.
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It, however, lifted the suspension placed on the chairmen of the 20 LGs and 37 LCDAs in the state who were suspended by the eighth legislature led by former Speaker Suraju Adekunbi at the twilight of its expiration shortly after Amosun left office on May 29, 2019.
The lifting of the suspension was based on a report by the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The committee chairman, Akeem Balogun, presented the report to the house.
“All the Local Government and LCDAs were shortchanged in terms of allocation from the Federation Account by the immediate past administration in the state,” Mr Balogun said.
“It was detected that each of the local government councils and LCDAs only obtained the sum of twelve million Naira (N12m) each, paid in six months instalments for the entire period of thirty (30) months under review.
“Majority of the chairmen were found guilty of complacency and docility in the face of constitutional breach of their functions and finances by the immediate past administration of the state.
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“Majority of the chairmen were found guilty of not keeping proper records of activities of their councils and nonchalant attitude and violation of procedural rules and financial guidelines by council officials.”
The assembly recommended that the chairmen found culpable be referred to the appropriate agencies of government for further investigation.