Gov. Yahaya Bello under fire over budget wastes

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has come under caustic criticisms over certain expenditures in the budget considered by stakeholders in the state to constitute wastage of state fund. The stakeholders itemized the budget allocations under the Office of the governor and the deputy governor which they decried do not add to the development of the state or promoting production in the state economy.

Some of the budget items were listed to include:

N14 million for burials, N15 million for the hire of private houses, N50 million for financial assistance, N70 million for donations, N70 million for assistance to Nigerian legions, N10 million to NYSC, N10 million for the less privileged, N10 million to orphanage homes. These are budget items under the Office of the Governor.

Items under the Office of the Deputy Governor include:  N2 million for the less privileged, N1 million for NYSC and N1 million for orphanage.

The stakeholders argued that while some of the allocations are meaningless, those that may have relevance in youth development and welfare of the elders did not receive appropriate budgetary allocation.

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The governor was being accused for rolling out budget of leisure for the fiscal year. They contended that some of the budgetary allocation are duplicated, noting that specific ministries and department have already included those items in their sectional budgets, while some of the allocations were declared unnecessary.