Gov Lawal alleges Matawalle left about N4m in Zamfara account

The Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, claimed on Monday his predecessor, Bello Matawalle, left about N4 million in the state’s account.

The governor, who stated this during an interview with the BBC Hausa, said civil servants in the state have not received salaries for about four months now.

He added that the security agencies have not been paid their allowances while students in the senior secondary school class have been stopped from writing their final examinations by West African Examination Council ( WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) over unpaid N1 billion debt by the state government.

Lawal lamented that he has been running the affairs of the state on debts since he assumed office on May 29.

He said: “I have been running the affairs of the state on debt since I assumed office as governor of Zamfara. I met the treasury account of the state with no money. I only saw a single account with about N3 to N4 million in it.

READ ALSO: Police complies with court order, returns ex-Gov Matawalle’s vehicles

“It is about three months now and we are yet to pay the salary of the workers. If you look at all the government agencies, the power supply to the buildings has been disconnected due to the hundreds of millions of debts incurred.

“The security agencies, for three months now, the allowance given to them for their daily operations has not been paid. Currently, students of senior secondary schools have not written their WAEC and NECO exams because the government is owing over N1 billion.”

Matawalle is one of the former governors currently under the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) radar for alleged misappropriation of funds during their tenures.

The commission had last month announced the plan investigation of the former governor for alleged N70 billion fraud in the state.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now