By Ibrahim Garba
Kano State Government said it spent the sum of N596 million the on provision of furniture, office fittings and appliances at various ministries, department and agencies within the first and second quarter of 2024 fiscal year.
Disclosing this to newsmen earlier today the spokesperson to the Governor Sunusi Bature Dawakintofa explained that government also directed immediate revalidation of the budget for the second quarter performance to capture the actual releases on the projects.
Reacting to media report on the state budget performance on an alleged spending of a sum of N10 billion by Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf on furniture, Sanusi debunked the rumour by mischief makers urging the public to disregard the figure, which he said was intended to blackmail the Governor while seeking cheap publicity.
He went further to clarufy the report saying Governor Yusuf placed high priority on budget implementation aimed towards achieving transparency and accountability in governance.
The statement released on Tuesday stated that “the state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has just released the second quarter budget performance report on the 28th of July, 2024 and has mistakenly tempered with the figures which has generated avoidable reactions”.
“It should be noted that the timely release of the report shows unwavering commitment of the government in making available to stakeholders, the information on all expenditures as promised in his manifesto to the good people of Kano during the electioneering campaign.
“Unfortunately, the second quarter report was erroneously submitted with a mix up in the template as data for payment of over ten billion naira (N10b) was used for payment of contractors’s liabilities and other expenses incured by previous administrations”.
“The payment was made to clear the backlog of indiginous contractors who were faced with challenges of bank loans and to enable them settle their debt burdens and help them go back to thier normal businesses.” Sanusi Bature explained”.
He further highlighted that ” the first quarter of 2024 gulped the sum of two hundred and ninety five million, eight hundred and twenty seven thousand, sixty two naira, eighty seven kobo (N295, 827, 062.87), while the sum of three hundred million, seven hundred and fifty million, five hundred naira (N300, 755, 500k8) was spent during the 2024 second quarter on funiture and office fittings for various Ministries, Department and Agencies respectively.
“A total of five hundred and ninety six million, five hundred and eighty two thousand, five hundred and sixty two naira, eighty seven kobo (N596, 582, 562.87) was disbursed within the period under review from Januray to July, 2024 as against the purported ten billion naira. More details can be obtained from the office of the Account General with available records of expenditure upon request by any organization, because it is not hiden or kept secret from scrutiny, said Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa.
However,” the amount spent on office refurbishment , funiture and fittings at various MDAs is not up to 5 per cent of what was popurtedly reported. The misleading information in the report was revalidated by the Office of the Accountant General of the state after series of media engagements”.
“The state regrets any inconsistencies from the report generated and shared to all stakeholders, including development partners, financial institutions and government agencies. It was as a result of the inability of the officials responsible for reporting the budget performance to validate the data in thier custody”. He added.
The Governor cautioned all data managers and handlers to maintain high level of professionalism in their responsiblities noting that Government will not tolorate sharing of unreliable data in his quest to operate open governance.
Similarly, the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning has been directed to review with immediae effect the budget template to tally with data generated from the budget and ensure no futther error occur, the statement emphasized.
