Kogi Govt, ALGON Dismiss LG Funds Diversion Charges as Political Smear

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja 

The Kogi State Government and the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Kogi Chapter, yesterday jointly refuted allegations that the state government was diverting local government Area (LGAs) funds.

The two tiers of government described the claims as baseless, politically motivated and driven by individuals acting on behalf of sponsors determined to mislead the public.

Addressing journalists in Abuja, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Hon. Kingsley Femi Fanwo, said the allegations, which was circulated by groups posing as civil society organisations, were fabricated to tarnish the image of the government.

He also alleged that the plans of the perpetrators were to create false impression that the Governor Usman Ododo administration was interfering with LGA allocations. 

Similarly, the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Kogi State, Hon. Tosin Olokun, dismissed the allegations as baseless.

Fanwo insisted that every LGA in the state receives its full statutory allocation and independently manages its finances, payroll, contracts and development projects.

The Commissioner said the petitioners had provided not a shred of evidence because none exists.

He stressed that the state government has never tampered with Local Government Areas finances. 

He said, What is unfolding is a coordinated attempt to weaponise falsehoods against the government by individuals who believe leadership should be decided by place of birth rather than competence.

He noted that the groups making the allegations lacked even basic knowledge of LGA administration.

He added that their sponsors had failed to brief them on the states reforms that ended an era in which councils once paid as low as 10 per cent salaries despite receiving three months allocation.

According to him, Kogi remains one of the few states where all 21 LGAs publish their financial statements on an official government portal accessible to journalists, civil society, development partners and the opposition. 

He said, Transparency is not a slogan here; it is routine practice. We challenge the petitioners to produce facts if they had any. Media noise is not evidence. Political drama is not proof.

Backing the governments position, the Kogi ALGON Chairman, Oluokun said the allegations were nothing more than ignorance and mischief. 

He stated categorically that the state government does not touch LG allocations or internally generated revenue. Instead, LGs have continued to pay 100 per cent salaries and pensions, while simultaneously defraying gratuities abandoned for years.

He said all LGAs had executed extensive projects across sectors including constructing and remodeling Primary Healthcare Centres, building staff quarters, installing solar-powered water systems and rehabilitating old water facilities.

He also said rural roads have been graded and laterited across the state, and tractors, farm inputs and other implements have been procured to boost mechanised agriculture.

He also highlighted youth empowerment programmes, including the training of 110 young people in each LGA on CNG conversion, with procurement underway for their working tools to make them job creators. 

He also said many LGAs have also built sports centres to engage young people and discourage crime.

Security, he noted, had been significantly strengthened, with thousands of hunters recruited and equipped with motorcycles and logistics, while some councils constructed operational offices for the Vigilante Service in their areas.

Both Fanwo and the ALGON Chairman commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for reforms that have made more resources available to subnational governments, enabling LGAs to meet their obligations and expand development projects.

Fanwo said the people of Kogi State have chosen development over deception, and progress over propaganda.

He added that neither the government nor the LGA authorities would be distracted by sponsored falsehoods. 

Your government is working, your Local Governments are functioning independently, and your resources are being used for development, not for politicians or their hired agents, he said.

He urged residents to ignore what he described as the antics of cash-and-carry civil groups, insisting that no amount of falsehood will derail the governments commitment to grassroots transformation.