How El-Rufai illegally deducted Kaduna LG funds – Jarimi

Former Secretary of the Association of Local Governments Of Nigeria (ALGON), Kaduna State chapter, Kabiru Jarimi, has debunked claims by ex-Governor, Nasir El-Rufai that he did not deduct the 23 Local Government Councils’ funds under his tenure.

Jarimi, who served under El-Rufai’s administration, described the claim as misleading, saying that funds were routinely deducted from councils’ allocations under various guises.
The ex ALGON State Secretary, who is also the former Chairman of Kaduna South Local Government Area, disclosed this in an interview with journalists at the weekend.

He said: “I was shocked by El Rufai’s comment because local government funds were deducted without our approval. Most of the deductions targeted Southern Kaduna LGAs.
“We never got our full allocations under El-Rufai. His government kept introducing policies to deduct funds unnecessarily. I even considered resigning. At times, we had no funds for overhead costs after paying salaries.”
Jarimi who said that El-Rufai justified the deductions as necessary to settle workers’ salaries, explained that the state government also employed various means to withdraw additional funds.

The former council chairman cited the creation of Kaduna Capital Territory Authority, Zaria Metropolitan Authority and Kafanchan Municipal Authority as conduits for shortchanging local governments.
“Salaries were shared 60-40 between the capital territories and LGs around them. In Kaduna South, deductions were made in the name of sanitation, forcing us to remit funds to the Kaduna Capital Territory Authority (KCTA) every month,” he stated.