Three Kaduna local government chairmen have been suspended by the state house of assembly over alleged financial mismanagement.
The chairmen who were suspended on Tuesday, July 25, were accused of awarding contracts without adhering to due process, as mandated by the Kaduna State Public Procurement Law of 2016, Section 35 Subsection 23.
An ad-hoc committee on investigation chaired by a member representing Lere East, Munirat Sulaiman Tanimu, thoroughly scrutinised the financial activities of five local government areas: Chikun, Kaura, Kagarko, Soba, and Birnin Gwari.
The investigation was mandated by the Assembly following a resolution on July 18, 2023. It was disclosed that the affected chairmen were invited and asked to provide financial documents, including bank statements from June 2022 to June 2023, departmental vault account (DVA), approved budgets for 2022 and 2023, capital and recurrent expenditures for the respective years, and a list of awarded contracts and their levels of completion, among others.
After going through the documents, the committee discovered that the chairmen of Kaura, Kagarko, and Chikun had contravened Section 48 of the Local Government Administration Law of 2018 and Section 35 Subsection 25 of the Kaduna State Public Procurement Law of 2016. The sections outline the necessary compliance with budget allocations and the state’s public procurement regulations.
The committee recommended that the three chairmen vacate their offices for the next six months for further investigation. The Chairman has been directed not to be present at the local government secretariats during this period and must hand over their responsibilities to their respective vice chairmen.
The lawmakers also noted that the chairmen of Birnin Gwari and Soba local governments did not violate any laws. They were however reprimanded for their failure to procure the 2023 approved budget from the Ministry of Local Government on time.