Former Secretary of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Kaduna State, Alhaji Kabiru Jarimi, has refuted claims by former Governor Nasir El-Rufai that his administration did not interfere with local government funds.
Jarimi, who also served as Chairman of Kaduna South Local Government, described the statement as misleading, alleging that funds were regularly deducted from council allocations under various pretexts.
Speaking in an interview over the weekend, Jarimi expressed shock over El-Rufai’s claim, insisting that local government funds were deducted without their consent.
He alleged that most of the deductions disproportionately affected local governments in Southern Kaduna.
“We never received our full allocations. The government kept introducing policies that took away funds unnecessarily. At times, after paying salaries, we had nothing left for overhead costs,” he said.
Jarimi further claimed that El-Rufai justified these deductions as necessary for settling workers’ salaries, but argued that the state government devised additional means to withdraw funds.
He pointed to the creation of the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Zaria Metropolitan Authority, and Kafanchan Municipal Authority as a means of diverting resources meant for local governments.
He explained that salaries were shared in a 60-40 ratio between the capital territories and the surrounding local governments, and in Kaduna South, deductions were made under the guise of sanitation, forcing the council to remit funds to the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority (KCTA) every month.
“We contributed to a security fund, yet no one knows how it was used. The same applies to the riot damage fund—no LGA benefited from it. I challenge the former governor to explain where the money went,” he stated.
Jarimi commended Governor Uba Sani for reversing many of El-Rufai’s policies, particularly the abolition of the Capital, Metropolitan, and Municipal Authorities.
He praised the current administration for discontinuing the controversial security and riot damage deductions and for introducing a policy that now allocates a percentage of the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to local governments.
