Niger ex-Council Chairmen deny contract loan mismanagement allegations

The former Local Government Council Chairmen in Niger State have disagreed with the allegations of alleged mismanagement of contract financing loans secured for the 25 local government areas of the state to execute projects.

The chairmen disagreed with the allegations during an interface with the Niger State House of Assembly Ad-Hoc Committee, investigating contract financing loans meant to execute people’s orientated projects in various council areas.

The Ad-Hoc Committee was constituted by the state House of Assembly after receiving a report from the office of the Auditor General alleging that some of the former Council Chairmen did not utilise the loan judiciously.

Mr Ibrahim Mami, former Chairman of Tafa Local Government Council, Hon Ibrahim Mami, disagreed with the report from the office of the Auditor General that the council didn’t execute projects with the contract financing loan, adding that the loan was used to provide dividends of democracy to the people of the council.

“What the report said and what the new Chairman of Tafa Local Government Council said is their own perspective and understanding, but we used the resources to provide dividends of democracy to our people,” he said.

He noted that part of the money was used to purchase transformers and Fifty(50) Motorcycles for Security Agencies as well as some village Heads to address security challenges that were bedevilling the areas.

Similarly, the former Chairman of Rijau local government council, Alhaji Bello Bako, while responding to the ad-hoc committee, disclosed that the contract financing loan was not given to the council but was disbursed to the contractors handling the projects directly by the bank.

Also, the former Chairman of Suleja local government council, Hon. Abdullahi Maje, said that in the course of executing the projects, some of the contractors complained of variations in the cost of materials which led to the incompletion of some road projects.

He further disclosed that the Council under his administration sourced resources from its Internally Generated Revenue ( IGR) to complete some projects such as the renovation of the local education authority office, electrification and police station.

Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee Investigating Contract Financing Loan, Hon.Bello Ahmed (PPA-Agwara), said that the office of the Auditor General and the committee were not out to witch-hunt anybody, adding that they were only discharging their responsibilities.

He explained that the inability of some council areas to complete some projects was not totally the fault of the chairmen but a result of complaints they received from the contractors of variations in the cost of materials due to inflation.

Ahmed stated further that the committee would invite the contractors to come with necessary documents to explain why they were unable to complete the projects and why the level of implementation of the projects do not commiserate with the resources released to them.

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