The Kano State Government has revealed spending N596 million on furniture, office fittings, and other amenities across various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) in the first half of 2024 contrary to the N10 billion stated in the budget performance report.
This clarification was issued by the Governor Abba Yusuf’s spokesperson, Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, following reports alleging that the administration spent N10 billion on furniture alone.
In a statement on Tuesday, Dawakin-Tofa urged the public to disregard the exaggerated figures, asserting they were designed to malign Governor Yusuf’s government.
“The state Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning released the second-quarter budget performance report on July 28, 2024, but there was an error that caused unnecessary reactions,” Dawakin-Tofa stated.
He explained that the N10 billion referenced was actually for paying off contractors’ liabilities and expenses from previous administrations, not solely for furniture.
“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’ liabilities and other expenses incurred by previous administrations.
“The payment was done majorly to clear the backlog of indigenous contractors who were faced with challenges of bank loans and to enable them settle their debt burdens and help them go back to their normal businesses,” Dawakin-Tofa explained.
“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 spent from Januray to July, 2024 as against the purported ten billion naira. The Accountant General would make available, the information on request by any organisation because it is not hidden or secret at all,” he added.
The governor’s spokesman added that the amount spent on refurbishment of offices, furniture and fittings at various MDAs is not up to 5 per cent of what was purportedly reported.
He said the misleading information in the report was revalidated by the Office of the Accountant General of the State after series of media enquiries.
“For the record, first quarter of 2024 gulfed 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, 500) was spent during the 2024 second quarter on furniture and office fittings for various Ministries, Department and Agencies respectively,” Dawakin-Tofa added.
He also acknowledged the confusion caused by the erroneous report and apologised to stakeholders, including development partners and financial institutions.
“The state regrets any inconvenience from the report 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 their custody,” he added.
The Governor cautioned all data managers and handlers to maintain high level of professionalism in their responsibilities, noting that the government will not tolerate sharing of unreliable data on its activities.
The Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning was also directed to revise the budget performance report template to prevent future inaccuracies.