However, Doma failed to reinstate the chairmen and the councillors, and passed the 13 local government councils to his successor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, with appointed administrators. Al-Makura, last year, sent an amendment bill to the House of Assembly (NSHA), which was passed into an amendment law with a provision for him to appoint caretaker committees, instead of an election to usher in elected councils for the local government areas, and the law is yet to be implemented months after it was signed into law.
The development has made the status of the Joint Account, which is operational between the state and elected councils, unclear. Chairman of the State Assembly Committee on Public Accounts, Francis Orogo (Keana PDP), confirmed the development in a chat with Weekly Trust, saying, “we have asked for information from the local government ministry on the status of this account (Joint Account) since we have no elected councils at the local governments, but my committee is yet to get answers.”
The lawmaker said the committee is already digging into the status of the account, making inquiries from both the ministry and the Auditor General of the state, but added that 14 months after, it is not clear what the account is being used for. “I don’t know if the money in that account is intact since there are no elected councils. The committee is making inquiries on whether there are violations of the law establishing the account, or not,” Orogo said.
State commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mohammed Musa Danazumi, declined to comment when Weekly Trust called him.
