Kwara LGs in a dangerous state – ENetSuD
By Ibrahim Sheriff (Gold)
Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), an anti-corruption Civil Society Organization known for its budget tracking activities have raised a serious concern on the pitiable situation of the 16 Local Government Councils in Kwara State, calling on the Kwara government to declare a state of emergency on the dangerous state of Local Government councils.
This much is contained in the CSO’s analysis of the state of local government councils in the state.
It will be recalled that ENetSuD initiated a hashtag #KwaraLGFunds and did a thorough analysis of the 768-page 2020 report of the Auditor-General for Local Governments in the State.
ENetSuD’s analysis revealed that the situation in Kwara is that Peter is being robbed to pay Paul, thereby leaving the LGs in the category of Peter with insufficient fund for development projects.
For instance, according to the statement, some huge amounts of money are being contributed by some nine LGAs in Kwara to augment seven others.
According to the group, the contributing LGAs, which are in the Peter category, include Baruten (₦806,149,308.08), Kaiama (₦803,261,765.13), Patigi (₦615,642,021.23), Isin (₦326,715,905.56), Ekiti (₦308,436,450.24), Oke-Ero (₦246,249,243.83), Oyun (₦166,124,058.74), Edu (₦157,377,328.76), and Offa (₦84,960,710.33).
The receiving LGAs, which are in the Paul category, include (₦1,395,097,080.68), Ilorin South (₦862,482,060.87), Ilorin East (₦625,983,538.34), Asa (₦423,718,698.22), Moro (₦123,468,298.56), Irepodun (₦89,137,672.84), and Ifelodun (₦1,337,116.50).
ENetSuD also noted the unfortunate and unacceptable trend among the 16 LGAs of the state whereby just about 1% of their expenditures is for capital (developmental) projects meant for the public, while the remaining amount is spent for salaries, pension, overhead, subventions, etc.
