Niger Delta
Edo Ministry To Approve LG Excess Crude Projects
All projects to be executed with the excess crude oil money by local government councils in Edo must be approved by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, an official said.
Oredo Local Government Chairman Omorogieva Gbajumo made the statement in reaction to allegations by the Council’s legislature that he mismanaged the excess crude fund.
The local government legislators had in a resolution barred the chairman from further spending money from the excess crude account, domiciled in Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB).
The chairman stressed that “all the projects earmarked for execution with the money were approved by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.’’
He said that the Ministry verified them before approval was given and listed some of them as Obakhavbaye Primary School , Adesua Primary School and Ohuoba Primary School , all in Benin, as well as the purchase of transformers for rural electrification projects.
Gbajumo said that local government legislative councils must first approve projects before any council chairman could approach the Ministry for verification.
Other allegations leveled against the chairman were ignoring summons from the legislators and giving some councillors N25 million to support him.