The Nigeria Union of Local Governments Employees (NULGE), Ondo State chapter on Friday absolved the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) from illegal deductions of N119 million from the monthly allocation of local governments in the state.
The union also exonerated the state Finance Commissioner, Wale Akinterinwa and the state Accountant-General, Laolu Akindolire of any wrongdoing in the alleged illegal deductions by the Federal Ministry of Finance.
Speaking during a press conference in Akure, Ondo State capital, the state President of NULGE, Bola Taiwo, said the finance commissioner and the Accountant General were not part of the conspiracy saying the earlier allegation against them was due to communication gap.
“I want to set the record straight, Ondo State Chairman of ALGON, Ondo State Commissioner for Finance and the State Accountant-General never connived in the illegal deductions.
“We (NULGE leadership) have now realised that the illegal deductions in the last three months were done by the office of the Accountant-General of the federation and the federal ministry of finance. We want to state clearly that Ondo State never benefited from the said phoney Comprehensive Healthcare Centres for local government areas.
“It should be noted that the funds accruing to us from the Federal Allocation already is not enough, now, imagine 119 million Naira being deducted on monthly basis from the source by the Federal Ministry of finance for a project we didn’t benefit from 17 years ago,” Taiwo said.
Also speaking, the state ALGON boss, Augustine Oloruntegbe said the association would work with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum to ensure that the monies were refunded to Ondo State local government’s account.
Oloruntogbe, who said the news of the deduction came to them as a surprise added that the state ALGON was not aware of any contract awarded in the state by the national ALGON in the last 17 years.
“The Ondo State ALGON dissociates itself from the said Healthcare contracts and asked for an immediate refund of the sum of N357 million so far deducted from the Ondo State local government’s account by the Accountant General of the Federation and the Minister of Finance because we never benefited from such project.
He revealed that if the money is released to the state, it would be used for various developmental and other people-oriented programmes at the local government level.
Oloruntogbe said he had contacted the national office of ALGON and has told them that they were not aware of any contract for which the said money was being deducted.
The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mrs Lola Fagbemi, said efforts would be made to ensure immediate refund of the deducted fund for the benefit of the people of the state, especially at the grassroots.
Fagbemi also expressed optimism that when contentious issues were resolved, the money would be refunded to the state.
The State Accountant General, Olaolu Akindolire said the state government knew nothing about the money which was being deducted from the source from the 774 local governments In the federation.
He added that neither himself nor the state Commissioner for Finance was party to the deduction, explaining that when the issue was raised at the FAAC meeting in Abuja, it was discovered that the money deducted so far was still being kept in an account with CBN.
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