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•They’re laying booby-traps with fresh loans, new contract awards, employment offers
•Governance must continue till May 29 – Outgoing govs
By Our Correspondents
The euphoria of their victories on the March 18 governorship election across the country has suddenly become tepid as the countdown to the 29 May handover date begins.
Some decisions of the outgoing governors have been interpreted by the newly elected governors as booby-traps waiting to catch them unawares and set them squirming in the mood very early in their administrations. They are now baring their fangs.
Already, some of the incoming governors are calling their predecessors out, challenging their last-minute decisions and policies. In return, some of the governors have directed the newly elected governors to stop meddling in governance, insisting that they remain in office and in power until May 29 22023.
In Plateau State, the incoming Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration and outgoing All Progressives Congress (APC) government are locking horns over some issues, including the alleged conversion of government property to private ownership.
Gyang Bere, reporting from Jos, said the change in guard of leadership also affected the membership of the State House of Assembly, where the PDP dominated the seats in the last election.
Although the outgoing governor, Solomon Lalong, has inaugurated the transition implementation committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of Plateau State, Prof. Danladi Atu, there are allegations of massive secret employments into the civil service, which might leave the incoming administration with a salary burden.
Meanwhile, the employment opportunities are seen by many as parting gifts to relations, friends and political associates who supported the cause of the outgoing governor, bearing in mind that APC has lost power.
It was learned that contractors are now mounting intense pressure for payment of their pending certificates, while some government officials are influencing the process to take their kick-back for economic self-reliance.
Investigation revealed that the government has influenced the inspection of federal road projects carried out by the state with a view to receiving the compensation before leaving office on May 29. Before now, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved N6.5 billion intervention to Plateau State for road construction.
It was learned that the state government had accessed parts of the payment, and pressure is being mounted to access the outstanding funds before vacating office on May 29. Although most of those federal roads projects were initiated and constructed half way by the PDP’s Jang administration, the Lalong government is leaving nothing to chance in accessing the N6.5 billion approved by the Federal Executive Council.
Another project generating serious concern in the state is the multi-billion naira ‘Legacy Projects’, cutting across the 17 local government areas, where some are near completion while some are barely at the foundation level. The projects, made up of modern secondary schools and specialists hospitals, aimed at providing educational and health intervention, were earlier billed for about N50 billion. The state government, last year, reviewed the contract sum to N26 billion with funding from the capital market.
Lalong had told Plateau people that the government had spent over N20 billion to complete the legacy projects before handing over on May 29, but nothing has been added on site since that frivolous pronouncement. Currently, the question on the lips of Plateau people is: where are the funds that the government obtained from the capital market for the completion of the ‘legacy project’?
However, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has raised alarm over what it perceived as ongoing looting and conversion of public assets into private ownership, illegal awards of contracts and incurring superfluous loans and expenditure by the Lalong administration. It noted that, under the watch of the incumbent governor, some government functionaries and appointees carried out shady deals by converting government properties into personal properties.
The party, in a press statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary, John Akans, said, “We have it on good authority that Plateau State assets within the state ministries, Kaduna, Lagos and Abuja are being tampered with for private acquisition.
“We have detailed reports of several properties currently being processed for ownership transfer involving serving commissioners and top government officials, hence serious warning to those involved in these illegal deals.
“Commissioner and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands and Surveys, should take note, because we are aware of the missing photogrammetry surveying and remote sensing machine procured by Jang’s administration. The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, should, as well, take note of what is happening at Kuru Livestock Farm. And Permanent Secretaries of Government House, Policy and Cabinet Office, should equally take note that we are aware of vehicles and other government properties in the hands of political appointees.”
The party informed that there were several shady conducts ongoing within the state Finance Ministry through the Office of the Accountant General of the state, citing billions of loans allegedly taken by the governor to prosecute the lost election.
“We are inundated with credible reports of emergency contract awards, hurried processing of payment vouchers and a grand agenda to incur further debts under the guise of project implementation,” and urged those involved in the dishonest act to desist or face the wrath of the law. But the Commissioner for Information and Communication, Hon. Dan Manjang, dismissed the allegations and described them as an unnecessary alarm geared towards witch-hunting of innocent civil servants.
He said: ““While we do not intend to dignify the concocted fiction of lies and propaganda aimed at intimidating civil servants/appointees and castigating the government with a view to pitching it against the citizens, it is important to put the records straight so as to save right thinking citizens and members of the public from being brainwashed by the fictional contraption.
“It is unfortunate that a party that has not yet taken over power is already issuing threats and singling out specific government officials for intimidation, harassment and persecution. What will they do if they eventually scale the difficult mountain before them at the tribunal and the Supreme Court and take over?
“Let it be on record that the Rescue Administration of Governor Simon Bako Lalong has nothing to hide or fear and can never be involved in any looting, conversion of public assets or any criminal conduct in contract awards as alleged.”
In Benue, Scholastica Onyeka reports that the outgoing governor, Samuel Ortom, recently employed workers into the state civil service, including 2, 500 teachers. He has also made a few appointments into his cabinet.
Recently, too, the state government got the approval of the Federal Government for the construction of a civil airport in the state. According to government officials, no contractor has been engaged yet, but the Ortom led administration would lay the foundation for its construction at Kura, along Naka Road, about 12 kilometres from Makurdi Town, before exiting office.
The governor’s spokesmen had stated that the governor’s tenure runs up to 11:59pm on May 28 2023, and, as such, had the right to appoint any person from now till that day. According to them, the Ortom administration was still in the business of delivering services to the Benue people, and was doing all in good faith and with the overall interests of the people.
They insisted that, as a functional and responsive government, the Ortom administration reserved the right to employ and appoint qualified Benue indigenes into positions where vacancies existed, saying that was precisely what the administration had done with the employment of Benue sons and daughters through the Teaching Service Board (TSB) and the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB).
Meanwhile, the state chapter of the APC has long raised the alarm that the outgoing Samuel Ortom-led PDP Government was setting booby traps for the incoming administration of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia.
The APC chairman in the state, Austin Agada, had alleged that the Ortom administration had embarked on the emergency award of contracts worth billions of naira, particularly the construction of a civil airport. The party is also alleging that the outgoing government is awarding contracts and backdating the same, as well as backdating employment letters. They also alleged massive illicit financial dealings, especially huge loans.
According to him, the massive employment of staff, about 2500, at the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and other ministries, an exercise initiated some three years ago, was a calculated attempt to shift the financial burden to the incoming government and further pitch the people against it, even before it starts. The APC, has, therefore, advised all consultants and contractors to refrain from entering into any such deals with the outgoing administration, insisting it would not be held accountable for any nefarious contractual obligations.
In fact, the APC vowed to review any “last-minute anti people” decision or policy instituted by the Governor Ortom-led administration capable of inflicting more pains on Benue people.
The party said it smacked of mischief that an administration that avoided recruiting into the civil service indigenes of the state on the grounds of “paucity of funds” and “over-bloated wage bill” for seven years and 9 months of its tenure, had, in a dramatic twist, suddenly embarked on the massive recruitment of thousands into the civil service barely two months to the expiration of its tenure.
The party noted that the outgoing administration “has mindlessly plunged the state into hundreds of billions of debt profile,” saying the governor-elect, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, “who has come with a vision to heal and fix the land,” was, indeed, worried.
Despite these concerns, it would be worthy to note that Governor Samuel Ortom, on Monday, April 3, 2023, announced a debt swap agreement with the Federal Government to reduce the overall financial burden of the state. Out of what Benue state owes the Federal Government, N84 billion debt would be cleared.
Ortom, through the state Commissioner of Finance, David Olofu, said the move would lighten the burden on the incoming administration, put the state in a good financial standing and also make it easier in an event it wants to borrow money when it takes over. In Kano State, there is anxiety over public advisories issued by the governor–elect.
In the last few days, Kano State Governor-elect, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has issued a number of policy advisories cautioning the public about their engagement with the state government and foreshadows the direction of public policy in the days ahead.
Desmond Mgboh reports from Kano that these advisories, as expected, have elicited deep concerns, not just among those directly communicated to or those constructing on alleged public spaces, but to contractors and creditors of the state government, many of whom are afraid that the communication is unpleasant and puts them at risk also. In one of the advisories, the governor–elect had warned domestic and international lenders against extending facilities to the government, insisting that the incoming government would not honour any such transaction.
A statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanusi Bature Dawakin, directed that, “Effective from March 18th to May 29th, no lender (domestic and international) shall approve and issue any loan facility to Kano State Government without the expressed consent of the incoming administration.
“Any such loan approved and issued to the Kano State government between the date of election and the date of swearing in, without the knowledge and consent of the incoming administration, will not be honoured by the new administration.
“All subsisting lenders to the Kano State government shall take notice that all terms and conditions for existing loan facilities shall be re-negotiated by the new administration guided by the utilization audit/ review of each loan facility,” he added.
This advisory trailed an earlier one, which charged individuals, groups and organisations to discontinue ongoing works within and around schools, religious and cultural sites, hospitals, graveyards and along the city walls. The governor-elect further advised them to discontinue the demolition of, and the construction on, all existing public buildings belonging to the government and people of Kano State.
“This Advisory is issued in the public interest, effective from today Thursday 30th March, 2023, till further notice. Any contravener does so at his/her risk, please,” he stated.
In response, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje chided the incoming governor for taking off on a wrong footing, describing his public advisories as baseless.
A statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Muhammad Garba, insisted that the action of the governor-elect amounted to jumping the gun, saying Ganduje remained the governor of the state until May 29th and, therefore, reserved the right to carry out his functions, even on the eve of his exit.
Tackling the governor-elect, he said, based on available records, the previous government of Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, whom he served as Commissioner, equally allocated plots in public places. Areas where the previous administration allocated plots, he stated, included the city wall, land allocation from Kofar Nassarawa to Kofar Mata; shops at the Kofar Mata Eid Prayer Ground facing the Orion Cinema and from Kofar Mata to ‘Yan yashi opposite the Eid Ground and from Kofar Kabuga to Kofar Famfo facing the old Campus of Bayero University.
Saturday Sun observed that the allocation of some of these plots had been controversial right from when they were allocated to their beneficiaries. Although the state government had reasons for its action and had made them public, the allocations still attracted criticisms from some members of the public.
A top civil servant in the state, who spoke anonymously on the financial advisory by the governor–elect, explained: “It is not very clear if there was a fresh arrangement at this moment to secure any facility or loan from the banks or other lenders by the state government. Ganduje left the state soon after the election and only just returned a few days ago.
“What is clear is that the financial advisory is pre-emptive. It is intended to discourage any such lender or lending from taking place, bearing in mind what governors and their immediate relatives do in their last days in office,” he stated.
Checks by Saturday Sun indicated that, since 1999, it had been a tradition for incoming administrations to charge at outgoing ones in the state. According to a public affairs analyst, Jacob Ajakaiye, from 1999 to date, almost all the administrations —Kwankwaso, Shekarau, Ganduje and, now, Abba, suffered from this charge by charging at the outgoing administrations to the delight and applause of a section of the public.
He, however, appealed to both administrations to exercise maturity so as not to undermine the business of government while imploring them to make use of the window of their transition committee to trash out whatever differences they have, instead of issuing advisories that may unsettle the public space.
In Sokoto State, Tunde Omolehin reports that the incoming government would be contending with various last-minute decisions undertaken by Governor Tambuwal’s administration. At the moment, Saturday Sun gathered that 50 per cent of the total workforce in the state civil service had yet to be paid their February and March salaries, a development that points toward accrued salary arrears to the incoming administration.
During the recent state executive council meeting, the governor also gave approval of over N7 billion as variation claims for some of the ongoing projects being executed in the state. The Commissioner of Health, Alhaji Lema Abubakar, told newsmen that the sum of N4.2 billion had been approved for the variation claim of the ongoing construction of Sokoto State University Teaching Hospital, whose initial contract sum was N14. 4 billion. With the variation, the total contract sum now stands at N18.5 billion.
Similarly the sum of N1.28 billion was also approved for the variation claim on the ongoing construction of the Premier Hospital, Tambuwal, which initial contract sum was N2.7 billion, but now stands at N4 billion naira. Also according to the commissioner, the sum of N990 million has also been approved as a variation of the ongoing Premier Hospital, Binji, raising the total cost from N2.7 billion to N3.7 billion.
He said the variations were imperative due to increase in the prices of items required for its completion. Moreover, the project has reached an advanced stage for completion. While the commissioner of Youths and Sports Development, Hon. Bashir Gidado, also justified that the sum N1 billion has been approved as variation for the completion of additional works at the ongoing Sokoto new stadium project.
Hon. Gidado said the initial contract sum of the stadium, which if completed could be at par with its national replica, was N2.7 billion. He said it is now N3.7 billion.
When contacted by our correspondent, the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Isah Sadiq Acida, said his party was still understudying the development. “We have heard Governor Aminu Tambuwal taking last-minute decisions to further plough the state into debt. We as a party and incoming government will make a pronouncement on our stand in due time,” he stated.
