An adhoc committee report of the Oyo State House of Assembly has indicted five former local government chairmen, who served under the administration of the late former Governor Abiola Ajimobi, asking the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters to appropriately sanction the affected chairmen.
The report presented on the floor of the Assembly listed the indicted as those who were chairmen of Atisbo local government area (LGA), Atisbo South Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Ifeloju LCDA, Ogo-Oluwa LGA and Oluyole LGA, just before Mr Seyi Makinde’s assumption of office as governor.
Among others, the chairmen were particularly indicted for spending stabilization funds without approval, tasking the state anti-corruption agency (OYACA) to investigate the five concerned.
Vice Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Honourable Dele Adeola, who presented the report, said its findings were drawn from an investigation of the accounts of stewardship and activities of the chairmen of LGAs and LCDAs between May 2018 and June 2019, done by the ninth Assembly but not determined before its expiration.
At the plenary presided over by deputy speaker, Honourable Abiodun Fadeyi, Adeola reported that the 10th Assembly delved into the records of the ninth Assembly pursuant to order XII, Rule 95 of the Standing Rules of the Oyo State House of Assembly.
Adeola explained that the rationale behind the investigation was to assess the use of local government funds on some of the projects executed and the economic impact of the projects on communities.
The committee’s findings, as revealed by Adeola, were that some of the projects executed with millions of naira were done after the March 9 governorship and House of Assembly elections, hence were deemed as done for political reasons.
The report also claimed that some projects did not have economic value to the community they were sited.
Also in the report was that some administration of LGAs and LCDAs spent from their stabilization funds without approval, claiming that its finding was that some of them used the fund in April and May 2019 after the March 9 governorship election.
It listed some of its general observations across LGAs and LCDAs to include that some LGAs and LCDAs were yet to retrieve the official cars allocated to some former chairmen and vice chairmen.
Also, the report pointed to that asphaltic paving and tarring of roads were not with stone base, while projects funded by local government funds were deemed substandard and not of good quality.
The report also questioned the engineering design and profile drawing of roads, claiming that what it met on site were far from the original planning design, in terms of the standard of wearing course, crushed stone base course and laterite.
The report also said it observed that virtually all councils did not keep attendance register of its staff on daily basis, while few councils kept and monitored the attendance register of staff.
Among other recommendations, the report charged directors of works to ensure infrastructural projects of LGAs and LCDAs meet standards and specifications as contained in the plan and profile drawing.
Adopting the committee report, leader of the House, Honourable Sanjo Adedoyin said the decision was to serve as deterrent to others and prevent future occurrences.
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