Your Govt Deducted LG Funds, Ex-Kaduna ALGON Secretary Counters El-Rufai

Former Secretary of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Kaduna State Chapter, Kabiru Jarimi, has disputed former Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s claim that he never interfered with local government funds during his tenure.

THE WHISTLER reports that the former governor had accused his successor, Governor Uba Sani, of diverting local government funds to purchase properties in Seychelles, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.

El-Rufai, who recently defected to the Social Democratic Party from the All Progressives Congress, made the allegations in an interview with Freedom Radio Kaduna.

“As I speak, no local government in Kaduna receives more than N50 million per month. Once the allocation arrives, they siphon it, exchange it into dollars, and use it to buy properties in Seychelles, South Africa, London, and other places,” El-Rufai had alleged.

However, Jarimi, who served under El-Rufai’s administration, described the claim as misleading, stating that funds were routinely deducted from councils’ allocations under various guises by the previous government.

“I was shocked by El-Rufai’s comment because local government funds were deducted without our approval. Most of the deductions targeted Southern Kaduna LGAs.

“We never got our full allocations under El-Rufai. His government kept introducing policies to deduct funds unnecessarily. I even considered resigning. At times, we had no funds for overhead costs after paying salaries,” he said.

Speaking to journalists in Kaduna on Sunday, Jarimi alleged that El-Rufai justified the deductions as necessary to settle workers’ salaries, but the state government also employed various means to withdraw additional funds.

He cited the creation of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Zaria Metropolitan Authority, and Kafanchan Municipal Authority as conduits for short-changing local governments.

“Salaries were shared 60-40 between the capital territories and LGs around them. In Kaduna South, deductions were made in the name of sanitation, forcing us to remit funds to the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority every month,” he stated.

Jarimi challenged El-Rufai to explain where the deducted funds went, specifically questioning the use of security and riot damage funds.

“We contributed to a security fund, yet no former LGA chairman can account for how it was used. The same applies to the riot damage fund; no LGA benefited from it. I challenge the former Governor to explain where the money went,” he said.

Jarimi commended Governor Uba Sani for reversing many of El-Rufai’s policies, especially the abolition of the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Zaria Metropolitan Authority and the Kafanchan Municipal Authority as well as the security and riot damage funds.

According to Jarimi, the Uba Sani-led administration now gives a percentage of its Internally Generated Revenue to local governments.

Your Govt Deducted LG Funds, Ex-Kaduna ALGON Secretary Counters El-Rufai is first published on The Whistler Newspaper