By Demola Akinyemi

Kwara State Government has said local government funds are administered, without its interference, by the executive chairpersons through the Joint Account Allocation Committee, JAAC, based on parameters set by law.

President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Governor of Kwara State, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed

This is contained in a statement issued, yesterday, by Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communications, Dr Muideen Akorede .

The statement was in response to claims by the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state, Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, that the state government diverts local government funds.

The state government in the statement described the claim as “uninformed and false,” stressing that it neither diverted nor interfered with the local government finances.

While urging the candidate to refrain from misleading pronouncements about governance in the state, the state government emphasized that it had always supported local governments to meet their obligations, including augmenting shortfalls in their allocation.

These interventions, it said, included loans, releasing a significant proportion of revenue inflows such as Paris Club refunds and the monthly disbursement of 10 per cent of state government’s internal revenue to the local councils.

ALSO READ: APC has become unpopular in Kwara – Group

The government also rejected the candidate’s claim that “the joint project account was responsible for the low level of development and poverty at the local government level.  The drop in federal allocation to local government councils caused salary arrears and the unfortunate hardship being experienced by local government workers and pensioners.”

Additionally, the government attributed the relative lack of development at the local government level to “the same drop in allocation to councils as current inflows barely cover basic obligations, leaving no room for development projects.”