Politics

PDP accuses Sokoto govt of reckless spending of state funds

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State has accused the administration of Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state of reckless spending in the state.

The party in a press statement made available to newsmen in the state, by its publicity secretary, Hassan Sahabi Sayinnawal, on Saturday accused the APC-led administration in the state of handling public fund recklessly through what it describes as grossly inflated contracts.

“PDP wishes to raise a serious alarm over the increasing recklessness being displayed by the APC government in the state in the handling of public resources, through the award of grossly inflated contracts that are in defiance of due process and standard financial procedures.

“While governor Ahmed Aliyu has on the inception of his government, unilaterally awarded huge contracts with neither the approval of the Executive Council nor the participation of statutory Ministries and Departments, the costs of completed, ongoing and proposed projects are a clear indication of gross misappropriation of state resources.

“It is unexcusable that the lighting of a few streets in Sokoto Metropolis is costing the people about N2 billion, even as the poles, are the existing ones being repainted. The construction of urban streets in two neighborhoods is put at an unpresidented cost of N40 billion, even though none of the roads is up to two kilometers long.

“Our party views as ridiculous, the spending of N292 million on the redecoration of three roundabouts in Sokoto, which have already been carried by private companies in the state. So is the allocation of a whopping N1 billion to the purchase of a new fleet of limousines for Governor Ahmed Aliyu”

The party however called on Governor Ahmed Aliyu, “to reconsider the most reckless aspect of his wasteful and questionable intention of spending N800 million on the reconstruction of the Maiduguri Road by Eastern Byepass Road, which is barely two kilometers in length, while the project does not involve any clearing or compensations.

“Our party wishes to join the teeming voices of propriety and reason to implore the APC Government in Sokoto State to be prudent with the people’s resources in the face of more serious and immediate priorities, of which Ahmed Aliyu seems to be oblivious.

“We view these projects as white elephant, against the background of the serious security situation in the state, in which lives are lost, hostages are being taken daily, about which the Government is taking no action. This extravaganza is also taking place, even as Ahmed Aliyu has failed to pay and expressed unwillingness to settle tuition fees for the state’s students in higher learning institutions and fees for WAEC and NECO.

“Our Party wishes to enjoin the APC Government to plough some of the available finances towards solving the scarcity of drinking water in virtually the whole of Metropolitan Sokoto and the bad condition of health facilities in the state, since they took over, especially the Specialist Hospital, Sokoto.

“We feel there is need for Ahmed Aliyu to inspire trust in the state and beyond that contratry to a widely-held impression, the austentatious conduct of his government has nothing to do with a desperate search for funds to finance the ongoing legal processes against his election or a bid to reap as much as he can from the state before any eventuality”.

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