Tension is brewing in Adamawa State following the decision of the local government chairmen to send their wives on a leadership training trip to Istanbul, Turkey.
The 21 wives, along with some senior officials of the Ministry of Local Government, reportedly departed the country last week for the programme, a move that has sparked outrage among workers and retirees who described it as wasteful and insensitive.
The Chairman of Toungo Local Government and state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Suleiman Toungo, confirmed the trip.
He defended the initiative, noting that council chairmen themselves had benefited from similar overseas training two months earlier.
“We did our training two months ago, so I do not see anything wrong in our wives going for training outside the country,” Toungo told Punch.
“They are our wives and we need their advice. We are looking at the importance of training them on leadership, not the cost.”
But workers and retirees disagreed, accusing the government of misplaced priorities at a time many of them are still awaiting their gratuities.
A 75-year-old retiree from Yola North Local Government, Abubakar Shehu, condemned the trip and called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to probe what he described as a financial scandal.
“What is the leadership position of local government chairmen’s wives? Even the wife of the governor is not sent abroad for leadership training. This is nothing but corruption and a mockery of democracy in Adamawa State,” Shehu said.
Another retired staff, who asked not to be named, urged Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to hand over the matter to the EFCC to safeguard the image of his administration.
“We now see the dangers of local government autonomy. Some of these wives did not even complete primary school, yet they are being flown to Istanbul in the name of leadership training,” he lamented.
A serving council chairman from northern Adamawa, who spoke anonymously, also distanced himself from the trip.
He said he was not consulted before his wife’s name was submitted.
“I was sleeping when I got a call from one of the ALGON officials asking me to send my wife’s details for a visa. That was the first time I heard of such a project. This is simply an abuse of public funds,” he said.
Workers’ unions are now mounting pressure on anti-graft agencies to investigate the expenditure, describing the foreign training of chairmen’s wives as an insult to struggling staff and pensioners in the state.
