Osun State Government has said that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant General of the Federation are planning to pay statutory funds due to Osun State local government areas into the private accounts of some individuals. The state recently alleged that both offices are rushing to pay the money to thwart the cases already filed at the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
Speaking via a press statement signed by the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Dosu Babatunde, the state revealed that 2 Federal Government Agencies conniving to pay Government money into private accounts is clearly a violation of public finance regulations.
According to the state commissioner, after the Osun State government found out about the plan, its officials quickly introduced the accounting officers of the 30 local governments to the CBN, however, the apex bank ended up rejecting the list.
Dosu stated that the state eventually found out that CBN is planning to pay the allocation into private accounts of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s men who submitted their names without the input of the accounting officers.
“As a government, we are of the strong contention that this is quite sad, unfortunate, and unconstitutional for these two Federal Government Agencies to conclude plans to pay Government money into private accounts. This will amount to an open violation of public finance regulations.
When Osun State Government first heard about this plan, it quickly took a step through the office of the Auditor General for Local Governments in the state by sending a letter to the CBN, introducing the accounting officers of each of the 30 local governments to them such as the Heads of Local Government Administrations (H.L.A) and Director of Finance.
However, to our great consternation and dismay, the CBN Osogbo office rejected the list with strong suspicion that it planned to pay the allocation of Osun Local Governments to private accounts of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola’s men who submitted their names without the input of the accounting officers of all the LGs in Osun State,” it read.
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Insisting that the plan is unlawful, he disclosed that the decision was taken without the consent of President Bola Tinubu or the Minister of Finance.
He concluded by warning that any money paid into any private account will lead to serious consequences for everyone involved.
“Any money paid into the private account of any individual is not and will never be Osun State Local Government money, and the consequence for this will be very severe as Osun State Government will not spare any action in line with the dictates of the law in order to redress such anomaly,” he added.
