The Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Tajo Othman, has explained why he returned N100 million excess funds to the Kano State government, saying they intended to return higher than that amount if not inflation level that caused higher prices of commodities.
The Commissioner while addressing newsmen in Kano on Friday noted that the committee he headed set out to do the task given to it immediately, but had to stop for a review as inflation was on the rise.
He revealed that his action was influenced by the Kano state governor’s exemplary leadership style adding that in an ideal situation in governance, the leader is always a pacesetter for others to follow.
He stresses that he wasn’t expecting the Kano state governor to publicise the news but the governor has chosen to do so during the flag-off of the free uniform distribution to advocate to the future generation the need to be transparent.
According to him, it is the wish of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf that everybody should be as transparent as possible.
“In an ideal governance setting, the leader is a pacesetter for others to follow. We have seen the governor’s body language and as such we fall in, that is what exactly happened. it is the wish of the governor that everybody should be as transparent as possible.
“He is a transparent governor and therefore we should be transparent as well. I never expected the governor to go public with it, but I believe the reason behind his announcement is indeed genuine,” he said.
“The Commissioner added that as the head of the committee for school uniform distribution, the state governor had emphasized that he entrusted a burden of trust in them and advised them to execute the task to the best of their ability.
The commissioner who was a retired customs officer and the pioneer Indigenous chief library at Kano State Polytechnic was in the news when the Kano State Governor publicly commended him for returning N100 million in unspent funds from a N2 billion budget earmarked for the production of 798,000 uniforms for pupils of primary one in the state.
He further added that the Kano state local government will now begin to see and feel the impact of good governance as the Kano state government under the ministry will soon begin a massive project execution in all 44 Local Government Areas of the state.
He assured the good people of Kano state that the state government is so much committed to ensuring that good governance reaches out to the grassroot.
