Niger probes N4.5bn bailout to LGAs

Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State has inaugurated a 7-man administrative panel of inquiry to ascertain how the N4.5 billion bailout meant for arrears of salary to 12 local government councils was utilized.

The state government had released some monies as bailout to affected councils to augment what accrued to them as federal allocation. The affected councils were Agaie, Bida, Bosso, Gbako, Gurara, Katcha, Lapai, Lavun , Chanchaga, Paikoro, Shiroro and Suleja.

Our correspondent learnt that N748 million was released in July, followed by N778 million in August, as well as N2 million and another N587 million in December 2016, among others.

Despite these disbursements, some councils have not been able to meet the salary obligations to their staffers.

Chief Press Secretary to Governor Bello, Malam Jibrin Ndache in a statement yesterday, said the state government had set up a panel to probe the handling of the funds by the chairmen.

The statement said the panel, headed by a retired Permanent Secretary, Mr. Daniel Clifford Tarachi, became necessary “following high level of financial recklessness and impunity at the grassroot level and the need to curtail the development from further causing more havoc.”

The statement quoted the governor as lamenting that it was irresponsible for some of the local government chief executives to refuse to pay their staff even when the state government had released funds to assist them.

The panel has one month to complete its assignment.