Oyo demands probe of N4.7bn allocation to fake LG

The Oyo State Government has demanded an immediate probe of an alleged N4.7bn allocated to a non-existent local government in the state by the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports in its 2008 budget.

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Alao Akala

The state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Hosea Agboola, who addressed journalists on Wednesday, said that the local government did not exist in the state.

The House of Representatives Committee on Youth Development expressed shock on Tuesday when it discovered a mystery local government area in the state.

The non-existing local government also had a project listed from the N4.7bn capital vote of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development in the 2008 budget.

The name of the local government area was given as Respat and the project listed against it was one of the eight prototype youth centres being constructed in the country.

The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Dapo Oyedokun, said he was aware that the state had two youth centres but did not know about the one referred to in the 2008 budget of the ministry.

The Minister of Youth Development, Senator Olasunkanmi Akinlabi, who appeared at the interactive session with the committee to present the 2008 budget performance, also claimed that he did not know any local government by that name in the state.

But Agboola said such a council could only exist somewhere in the eastern part of the country and not in Oyo State.

He urged the ministry to investigate the matter for proper accountability.

He said, “We do not have such local government in this state, may be it was created by the federal ministry of youths and sports. It might be an omission on the part of the ministry because we do not have such a council in the state.

“We did not also benefit from any project of N4.7bn from the ministry this year. We therefore, demand a further investigation of the alleged fund allocation.

“We want to state clearly that the said project was not executed through the state government. As a matter of fact, the project and the council do not exist