Gov. Dikko Radda of Katsina State, says the 34 local government councils have expended N128 billion on projects through the joint account between June 2023 and June 2024.
By Zubairu Idris
Gov. Dikko Radda of Katsina State, says the 34 local government councils have expended N128 billion on projects through the joint account between June 2023 and June 2024.
Radda stated this at a joint meeting with council chairmen, members of the House of Assembly and the State Executive Council (SEC), on Wednesday in Katsina.
“You are fully aware of how we jointly contributed towards projects across the state.
“So, about N128 billion was spent by the local government councils themselves through the joint account,” he said.
He said that payment of salaries gulped N66 billion, N10.1 billion spent on pension/gratuities and N12.13 billion on security within the period under review.
Radda said the councils spent N376.6 million on security requests; N4 billion on direct running of the councils, N15.1 billion on various projects and N360 million on instructional materials.
Other expenditure included N1.5 billion for foreign and local scholarships; N933.8 million on Hajj operation, N6.14 billion on food palliatives, and N3.1 billion on palliative care for local governments, LEAs staff and stakeholders during the Sallah celebrations.
While N3.84 billion spent on procurement of fertilisers and N1.19 billion on agrochemicals.
“This is not exhaustive, but represent monies sent directly to the local governments’ accounts. It is an inseparable part of the policy implementation,” he said.
Radda reitrated commitment to the respect of the rule of law, and enjoined the citizens to be law abiding.
“I will respectively say that some of us tried our best to manage the joint account funds in a collective approach.
“We are facing socio-economic challenges coupled with insecurity in our frontline local governments.
“Fighting insecurity is a monumental and resource consuming, we must continue to fight it together regardless of the situation in individual local government,” he said.
He, however, expressed concern on how some critical engagement of the local government councils would be affected.
“The salaries of teachers under SUBEB, local government worker’s salaries, pensions/gratuities, and deductions for emirate councils.
“Fate of the Local Government Service Commission and Local Government Pension Board has become uncertain,” he said. (NAN)
