Foundation Asks Council Chairman In Enugu To Account For Over N1.4Billion Allocation Received In 8 Months, Other Incomes

Nwanne Di Na Mba Foundation has asked the chairman of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area to account for the billions of naira allocated to the council in the last 8 months.

According to the pressure group in a letter to the chairman, the LGA received at least a sum of N1,490,806,307.00 from the federation account aside from the internally generated revenue and other incomes between January 2022 and August 2022.

In a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by its lawyer, Chijoke, Obinna and Associates, the foundation demanded an elaborate breakdown of the expenditure of the council area.

“Our client has painstakingly undertaken a tour around the entire sixteen wards that constitute Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area and came to a shocking realization that there is no element of impact of the Local Government, particularly since your assumption of office as the council chairman, in any of these wards either by way of developmental projects or any other programme representing the presence of the local government in any of these communities,” the letter read.

“Upon this shocking revelation, our client in order to ascertain the cause of this paucity or absolute lack of development in the entirety of Igbo Eze South Local Government Area under your regime, approached the office of the Accountant General of the Federation and demanded, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, to be obliged with copies of the several allocations to Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area within a period of January 2022 to August 2022.

“The information received from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, though not comprehensive, reveals the allocations to Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area in the year 2022 viz;

“It is apparent that within a period of eight (8) months, your regime has received at least a sum of One Billion, Four Hundred and Ninety Million, Eight Hundred and Six Thousand, Three Hundred and Seven Naira (N1,490,806,307.00) from the federation account aside from the internally generated revenue and other incomes of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area.

“Our client is however not oblivious of some expenditures by the Local Government under your regime such as payment of staff salaries and other sundry expenditures. It is in the light of the above, particularly your absolute failure to develop the Local Government Area contrary to the provisions of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that our client has considered it most appropriate in the circumstance to make the following demands;

“A. That you avail her a comprehensive list of all the income to Igbo Eze-South Local Government Area from April 2021 being the month of your assumption of the office of the Chairman of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area till date.

“B. That you also avail our client a comprehensive list of all statutorily permitted expenditures of Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area from the inception of your office as the Local Government Chairman till date.

“C. That you also avail to our client a comprehensive list of all the projects (if any) executed within Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area from the inception of your office as the Local Government Chairman till date.

“In view of the above demands sir, our client considers it most apposite to inform you that it shall not hesitate to report the perceived graft in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area to the relevant anti-graft agencies and also make same public through both the print and electronic media should you fail within a period of Seven (7) days from the date of your receipt of this letter to oblige or meet the demands as hereinabove stipulated.

“Convinced of your very highly anticipated positive response to this letter, we wish to express our client’s profound gratitude to you.”