The Chief Consultant on Media to Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, yesterday said the allegation of diversion of local government allocations against the governor by Mr. Wale Adedayo was politically-motivated.
He asserted that contrary to the false claim, the governor had augmented several shortfalls in allocations to local governments from the Federation Account to the tune of N17billion from the inception of his administration in 2019 to date.
Speaking in an interview on Raypower FM programme, Facts File, as well the Yoruba version on Faaji FM, Akinmade noted that Adedayo was out to tarnish the image of Governor Abiodun for parochial political motives.
He said allocations to local governments remained practically inaccessible by any governor, going by the recent amendment to extant laws regarding allocations to the third tier of government.
This, he said, followed agitation by some local government chairmen.
The media expert explained that a special committee, known as the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC), which comprises the 20 local government chairmen across the state, members of NULGE, NUT and traditional institutions among others were statutorily saddled with the responsibility of deciding on the sharing formula without any interference of the governor.
Akinmade, copiously reeled out the sequence of allocations to local governments since the inception of Prince Abiodun-led administration in 2019, indicating a series of interventions by the governor to augment several shortfalls, occasioned by shortfall in federal allocations, contrary to the claim of diversion by Adedayo.
“The reduction in allocations to states is not peculiar to Ogun State and I can tell you with facts and figures that between 2019 till 2021 and 2022, Governor Abiodun had to augment the shortfall in all allocations to local government to the tune of N17 billion,” he said.