Francis Ugwoke
15 September 2008
Enugu — All the 17 local government chairmen and some newly appointed administrators in Enugu State will today appear before the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of outright embezzlement, misappropriation and mismanagement of council funds.
It was gathered that the invitation followed allegations of graft leveled against the council chairmen by some highly placed individuals from the state.
The chairmen and some of the administrators were said to have been accused of embezzlement of council funds through inflated contract sums, over-invoicing and extra-budgetary spending, particularly the purchase of some new cars for councillors in the state.
During the meeting with EFCC in Abuja, the council chairmen would be required to give account of the allocations they received since assuming office in January this year.
The purchase of the cars for the 266 councillors which has since been subject of controversy in the state had been approved by the state Governor, Mr Sullivan Chime who also ordered a monthly deduction from the beneficiaries.
Critics had described the purchase of the cars which cost N1.8m each as a misplacement of priority in view of other needs of the respective local government areas that require urgent attention by the government.Sources have it that some groups had also in the petition to the EFCC accused the council chairmen of siphoning council funds and being insensitive to the plight of the people by purchasing the cars.Apart from this, the council chairmen were said to have inflated the cost of the cars and other projects in the councils.It was gathered that some of the chairmen had left Enugu to Abuja yesterday by road.However, an official of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) who pleaded anonymity insisted yesterday that the allegations against the local government chairmen came from their detractors, adding that they have not committed any fraud.He said that the invitation was an opportunity for the chairmen and administrators to clear all the allegations being leveled against them, adding that there was nothing wrong if government gives car loans to its councilors."We shall come out with a clean bill because the council chairmen in Enugu State are very disciplined and are well monitored by our governor, who is eager to see that available funds are properly channeled to the provision of infrastructure in the communities," he said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
