Salaries consume Kwara councils allocation – Gov

By Romoke W. Ahmad


Kwara State Governor, Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, has disclosed that the state government does not tamper with local government allocations from the federation account as being insinuated in some quarters.

He assured that rather, the entire allocation of the councils was used for payment of salaries of the local government staff and pensioners, adding that nothing usually remained in the council coffers for infrastructural projects.

He made this known while speaking at the public presentation of a pictorial compendium of the state of infrastructures and social amenities across the 16 local government areas of the state in Ilorin on Thursday.

The compendium was compiled by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Kwara Development Trackers (KDT).

The governor put the salary arrears of the local government council workers left behind by the past administration at N5 billion adding that the monthly allocation from the federation account for both the state and the 16 local government areas is in the region of N6.5 billion.

He added that the previous government spent between N6 billion and N10 billion on water reticulation of Ilorin metropolis, with no water to drink in the city.

“That is why we have proliferation of boreholes in major towns and cities of the state. We don’t have reason to have borehole scattered across the Ilorin town. Boreholes are like stand-by generators to complement electricity supply,” he said.

“Our challenges are enormous and we are equal to the task. We know the enormity of the work and the task ahead. Sixteen years of rot of the last administration is difficult to fix in six months. Our administration has saved a sum of eight billion. This amount will be used to fund the 2020 budget,” he said.

In his welcome address, the convener of KDT, Barrister Sambo Muritala disclosed that his team embarked on the assignment to assist the present administration in identifying the needs of the people of various communities across the state.

“It is our resolution that no matter how beautiful the good idea of a government is, there can never be any commendation from the people if this good idea of government is not in tandem with the basic needs and necessities of the people,” he said.