September 13, (THEWILL) – A witness before the Benue State Commission of Inquiry looking into the income and expenditure during the administration of former governor, Samuel Ortom, from May 2015 to 2023, was told that some officials of Gwer West Local Government Council had fraudulently obtained a bank overdraft of N782.4 million.
The new Director of General Services and Administration (DGSA), Mr Christian Idyepo, who was led in evidence by the State Counsel, Barr Ajinge Saa, confirmed that no record has shown that Gwer West Council took such loans or an overdraft to warrant payment of such huge amount of money.
Saying that he was appointed as DGSA in February this year, he also admitted that there was no record of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) even though there are markets in the local government which form sources of IGR.
According to the DGSA, Gwer West has a total of 508 staff including teachers, while the wage bill stood at N54 million monthly.
He, however, admitted that he did not know the total number of school teachers in the Council but the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs monthly deducts money from the affairs of the Council for payment of teachers through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB).
The Commission members also observed that some former Cashiers of the Council, including one Comfort Ishuhu and Igbayima Ikyo, made some strange withdrawals from the accounts of the Council amounting to millions of naira and requested the DGSA to ensure that they appear before the Commission.
Also testifying, a two-time Chairman of Katsina-Ala Local Government Council, Mr Alfred Atela, informed that during his tenure, the BLGCA officials were in total control of how affairs of the council were run, especially how money was expended.
The former Council Chairman explained that when money comes from the Federation Allocation Account, the Bureau will hold a Joint Account Committee (JAC) meeting and give each local Government Council Chairman a plain sheet indicating how money should be expended including staff salaries.
The Commission Chairman, Rtd Justice Taiwo Taiwo, after listening to the evidence, requested all the past Council Chairmen, DGSAs, Treasurers and Cashiers to submit reports of their tenure on income and expenditure before the 7th of October when they will appear before it.
