MAKURDI: The Benue State House of Assembly (BNHA) has indicted the Executive Chairman, Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Grace Adagba, as well as the immediate past Special Adviser, Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (BLGCA), Dennis Akura for allegedly misappropriating about N3 billion....CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE➤
While the Assembly told Adagba to account for N2.073 billion, it asked the former Special Adviser BLGCA, who is now the Special Adviser on Financial and Economic Strategy, Planning and Development, to refund the sum of aboutN1.782 billion.
The two aides of the State Governor, Rev Fr Hyacinth Alia, were indicted in the report of an Ad Hoc Committee, headed by the Majority Leader, Saater Tiseer, and had nine other persons as members.
Speaking to Saturday Independent on phone, Akura, who said he was not invited by the Assembly to give his own side of story, noted that the money that was said he allegedly misappropriated were security votes which were channeled to the LGAs.
However, efforts to get the, SUBEB chairman, Grace Adagba, through the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Board, Emmanuella Akese, to respond to the allegations were not successful, as she did not pick calls nor responded to message sent to her on the matter.
Meanwhile, the President, Network For Transparent Governance (NTG), Dennis Agema, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-corruption agencies to move in swiftly and investigate the allegations leveled against the SUBEB Chairman, as well as the former Special Adviser, BLGCA.
He alleged that “Corruption of monumental proportions taking place under the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia has been exposed by the BNHA. The development is an indictment of the Governor and his key officials.
“The latest case of widespread fraud in the Alia government which is currently under fire is at the State Universal Basic Education Board and the State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
“Governor Hyacinth Alia and his officials are not new to cases of corruption. The Governor was last year, accused of misappropriating about N66 billion of public funds in less than seven months in office. Out of the amount, N46 billion was said to be from the state government coffers while N20 billion was reported to have been embezzled from the monthly allocations of the 23 local governments of the state.
“It will be recalled that in February 2024, a group of civil rights activists known as Global Integrity Crusade Network (GICN), submitted a petition to the EFCC, detailing how the government of Alia, through his Adviser on local governments, Dennis Akura, allegedly authorized and withdrew over N20 billion from the Benue State LG accounts. The group attached evidence of letters signed by different Council Chairmen and Directors of Administration.”
He further alleged that “The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions, had on 27th February, 2024, summoned Dennis Akura to answer questions concerning the said missing N20 billion being part of Federal Allocations to the 23 Local Government Areas in Benue State, the invitation which was turned down by the governor’s aide.
“The latest report by the Benue State House of Assembly Ad Hoc Committee has vindicated the whistleblowers who had raised similar concerns and alarms.
“The EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies must act quickly and take immediate and thorough action to investigate the Benue State government under Governor Alia before he renders the state and local governments accounts empty!”
Agema stressed that “After a painstaking investigation, the House committee found that billions of public funds were diverted by Alia’s appointees directly under his supervision. The House, on receiving the Ad Hoc Committee’s report and deliberating over it, consequently demanded that the Chairman, Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Grace Adagba should account for N2,073,779,218.07 (N2.07 billion) being the balance of the funds received from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between December, 2023 and June, 2024.
“In the same vein, the House demanded that the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs should refund the sum of N1,782,000,000.00 (N1.7 billion) being the total of the N9,000,000.00 (N9 million) siphoned from the monthly security votes of the local government councils in the state from October, 2023 to June, 2024 for 9 months and report back to the House within one month with evidence of the refund.
“The House Committee report showed that the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board received a total of N12,043,781,463.56 (N12.4 billion) from the 23 local governments of the state as salaries for primary school teachers between December 2023 to June 2024, when Grace Adagba assumed duties as the Executive Chairman of the Board.
“The State Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs on the other hand, according to the report, received on behalf the Local Governments, a total of N66,807,625,790.47 (66.8 billion) between September, 2023 and May, 2024 from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).”
Even more damning, the NTG president said was the revelation that “Local Government Council officials were compelled to sign blank papers with which officials of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs withdrew huge sums of money from the Local Governments Accounts.
“It states that the LG Bureau mandated Security Secretaries to pay N9 million from the supposed N10 million Security vote for each Local Government back to the Bureau through a designated account. This amounted to N1,782,000,000.00 from October, 2023 to June, 2024 for the 22 Local Government Councils visited; that most of the Local Government Councils failed to submit Salary Pay Vouchers (PVs) requested by the Ad hoc Committee. The few PVs submitted to the committee were reportedly doctored with evidence of multiple payments” Agema revealed.
Therefore, the Ad Hoc Committee recommended “That in line with finding 1, the State and Local Government Joint Accounts Allocation Committee should be scraped to allow Local Government Councils receive directly allocation meant for them to enable them deliver services to the rural people;
“That in line with finding 2, the Chairman, Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) should account for N2,073,779,218.07 being balance of the funds received from the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between December, 2023 and June, 2024;
“That in line with finding 4, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs should refund the sum of N1,782,000,000.00 being total sum of the N9,000,000.00 siphoned from security votes of the 22 Local Government Councils from October, 2023 to June, 2024 for 9 months and report back to the House within one month with evidence of payment.”, the Committee insisted. ...CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE➤
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