The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, NGF, Governor Abdulazeez Yari has declared that governors should under no circumstances touch funds meant for local government areas in their states.
The Zamfara State governor, who made this known yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja stated that the matter was a constitutional one.
According to him, “The essence of joint account, to my understanding as governor, is not to hold the money, as the money is coming as the constitution spells out. That is the meaning of joint account. If it is done properly, nobody should hold any local government’s money”.
Yari said he was not sure if any governor was holding any local government funds as at this moment.
“But I think what used to happen in my own case is may be if we are having a development project, we vote together on percentage basis, maybe 60-40. This is the only thing that could make a state touch the monies of local government. Otherwise, all the monies in the joint account should go to the local government. So, no one as a governor has the right to touch local government money,” he added.
He further stated that there had been speculations that some states were currently holding local government money but added: “May be because there are no elections in those local government areas.”
On the level of security in his state, the Zamfara State governors said front-line states namely; Niger, Kastina, Kaduna, Kebbi and Zamfara had been making interventions with security institutions.
Yari said the five governors had met with security agencies under the leadership of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
He said: “We have made serious progress. The collaboration is on even with other paramilitary agencies like the Nigerian Customs and Immigration.”
Comments