Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara has urged Directors of Personnel Management (DPM) and Treasurers in all the 16 Local Government Areas of the state to ensure financial prudence.

Ahmed gave the advice in Ilorin on Friday at a meeting with local government directors of personnel management and treasurers on effective running of local government administration.

He said that as drivers of local government administration and finances, the DPMs and treasurers should ensure fiscal discipline through the institution of realistic budgets.

The governor stressed the need for them to ensure that expenditure at the local government was not higher than revenue generated for effective service delivery.

Ahmed said that the treasurers and accountants at the local government would attend a refresher session at the Ministry of Planning on budgeting.

"The training is aimed at ensuring that policy thrust at the local government is in tandem with those of the State Government.

"If we are digging boreholes, efforts of the local government must complement those of the state government," he said.

The governor directed the DPMs and treasurers to expunge names of ghost workers from salary vouchers as part of their efforts to achieve fiscal discipline at the council level.

According to him, all those involved in the bloating of expenditure, either in personnel or overhead cost will be prosecuted.

"We will conduct a detailed check to plug loopholes."

The governor told the DPMs and treasurers to present authentic staff list of local government workers to the Commissioner for Local Government by Oct. 1.

"I am determined to get the actual wage bill of each local government. Even if it requires us to ask every staff to receive payment from the table of the governor, we will do it."

The governor explained that the biometric data capturing exercise being conducted at the local government was part of efforts to curtail financial recklessness in the third tier of government.