The group accused the state governor of wasting public funds to make appointments into offices that already exist and are already being occupied by a lot of civil servants.
The Elites Network for Sustainable Development (ENetSuD), an anti-corruption civil society organisation, has tackled the Kwara State Government over the recent appointment of Development Officers for 16 local government areas of the state.
In a press statement issued by the Director of the group (Community Services), Fatima Bintu Dikko, the group described the news of the appointment as shocking and needless.
The group accused the state governor of wasting public funds to make appointments into offices that already exist and are already being occupied by a lot of civil servants.
The statement reads: “For instance, each of the 16 LGAs in the state has a Department of Community Services, and the Department has Community Development Officers in varying numbers. These officers are civil servants paid from public funds to carry out activities associated with the development of communities under their LGAs.
“Similarly, the Kwara State Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy Affairs, and Community Development also has a Directorate of Community Development with a designated Community Development Officer for each of the 16 LGAs in the state. They are also civil servants paid from the public fund.
“What necessitated the fresh appointment of politicians as LGA-DOs into the 16 LGAs, despite the existence of civil servants occupying the same position at the Ministry and LGA levels, is not clearly understood by Kwarans and needs a clear public explanation by the governor.
“It is worthy of note that these already-existing officers at the Ministry and LGA levels are not fully empowered by the government to perform their official duties being paid for by the government from public funds.
“One would expect that the recent appointment of the SSA Community Development, which is undoubtedly a laudable step, would create mechanisms for the empowerment of these officers in the Ministry and LGAs towards driving some robust community development activities.
“However, the governor’s appointment of 16 LGA-DOs as announced yesterday is an indication of a lack of clarity on what his administration needs to do to drive development at the grassroots. It is also an extravagant habit of spending public funds on needless ventures for political enrichments.
“The reckless appointment of the 16 politicians as LGA-DOs is another addition to various acts of executive rascality that the governor has been showing, the top of which is the appointment of illegal Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) to unlawfully replace democratically-elected councils in the 16 LGAs for the longest period in the history of Kwara State.
“The Governor has only been beating his own records.”
The group noted that rather than wasting public funds on needless appointments, the governor should “direct his appointees in Kwara State Independent Electoral Commission (KWSIEC) to publish a notice of Local Government Election and conduct election within the shortest possible time in line with public yearning”.
“That is the altruistic way of facilitating true development in the 16 LGAs rather than reckless appointment of LGA-Dos,” it said.
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