A storm of criticism has erupted in Adamawa State after revelations that the wives of all 21 local government chairmen were sponsored on a foreign trip to Istanbul, Turkey, for what was described as a “leadership training programme” — despite no budgetary provision for such an expenditure.
Findings indicate that the trip was bankrolled with council funds under the platform of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON). The disclosure has sparked widespread outrage from residents, civil society organisations, and legal experts, who slammed the exercise as a reckless misuse of scarce public resources.
ALGON’s state chairman, Suleiman Gangkuba, defended the decision, insisting the training was necessary to equip the chairmen’s wives to better support their spouses in office. He also revealed that council bosses themselves had attended a similar programme abroad just two months earlier.
“It is necessary for efficient local administration,” Gangkuba maintained.
But governance advocates and opposition voices have rejected that defence, stressing that the wives of council chairmen hold no official or statutory positions that would justify spending public funds on overseas training.
“This is nothing short of brazen squandering of taxpayers’ money,” said Yola-based lawyer and accountability campaigner, Barrister Pwamaddi Shagnar. He called for a breakdown of the trip’s cost and demanded that anti-graft agencies step in.
“There is no appropriation for this kind of waste. The EFCC and ICPC must immediately investigate,” Shagnar told SaharaReporters.
He further accused state governments of continuing to manipulate local council finances despite the July 2024 Supreme Court ruling granting councils financial and administrative autonomy. According to him, the continued use of the Joint Account system, controlled by state Ministries of Local Government, enables such excesses.
“Instead of autonomy benefiting the grassroots, what we are seeing is reckless spending on foreign jamborees under the guise of training,” he said.
Observers note that the Istanbul trip mirrors a familiar pattern nationwide, where public officials justify expensive foreign junkets as “capacity building” exercises that deliver little or no real value to citizens.
Efforts to obtain the total cost of the Istanbul programme proved unsuccessful, as ALGON chairman Gangkuba did not respond to calls or messages.
Meanwhile, civil society groups in Yola have vowed to petition the EFCC and ICPC over what they describe as “illegal diversion of council funds,” warning that accountability must be enforced if the autonomy of local governments is to have any real meaning.
Analysts caution that the scandal could become a key test for Nigeria’s local government reforms. They argue that if council treasuries can still be raided for unauthorised foreign trips, the promise of grassroots governance may remain nothing more than a mirage.
