Date: 2020-09-24

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Allegations that the Kwara State Government diverted or deducted N300m monthly from local government funds since May 2019 to date are false and baseless, panel of inquiry on the finance of the 16 local government areas has said.

The panel also said it found no evidence that the AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration has borrowed to pay salary or pension since it was inaugurated on May 29, 2019.

"We want to state categorically that there is no evidence either oral or documentary to support the allegation of N300m monthly deduction from the local government funds by the state government. The allegation of such deductions is therefore baseless, unfounded and false," its chairman retired Justice Mathew Adewara said late Wednesday when the panel submitted its report to the Governor.

AbdulRazaq had on August 11 inaugurated the panel to investigate the allegations of diversion of local government funds or borrowings from the bank to pay salaries of local government workers.

Justice Adewara said a total of 35 witnesses testified before the panel while several documents were produced and tendered by them. He said the panel also visited some of the local governments to see what projects they have done as had earlier been submitted by the director of personnel management (DPMs) who appeared before them.

The report of the panel meanwhile has found that the state government "does not deduct money from the SUBEB account while salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff are paid as and when due from May 29 to date".

*Adewara said the panel only received a memorandum from the Elite Network for Sustainable Development (ENETSUD),* adding however that the questions the civic group raised in its memo were "all based on incomplete information sourced from the internet and social media.