Ebonyi Governor, Francis Nwifuru, Splashes N6.5billion On Vehicles Amid High Poverty, Unemployment

<h4>Ebonyi Governor<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reproduces an earlier report in Sahara Reporters in which staggering financial figures on vehicles outweigh consideration for critical sector developments in Governor Francis Nwifuru&&num;8217&semi;s administration<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The vehicles were purchased for the state government officials&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>A review of budget performance documents has shown that the Governor Francis Nwifuru-led Ebonyi State government spent the sum of N6&period;5billion on purchase of vehicles in the first three months of 2024&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>According to details on the budget performance documents&comma; the state spent N5&period;367 billion for 150 vehicles for &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;monetised vehicles for government officials&period; ”<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>This would mean that each official that benefited from this got a vehicle worth N35million&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Another sum of N1&period;29 billion was spent on twenty vehicles for the current administration&period; This puts the cost of each vehicle at N64&period;5 million&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;26078" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-26078" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-26078" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2024&sol;07&sol;IMG-20240724-WA0042-300x268&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Ebonyi Governor" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"268" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-26078" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em>Statistics<&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>This expenditure may have been made by the office of the secretary to the state government&comma; this is given that in the first three months of the year&comma; the office expended exactly the same amount spent on purchase of vehicles N6&period;5 billion&comma; however&comma; all of the agencies under the office recorded zero naira budget performances&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>This expenditure is more than any expenses of the government for provision of infrastructure in the first three months of 2024&comma; per details on the budget performance reports&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>It may be safe to say that the government prioritised buying vehicles in the first three months than actual development given that no project got more money than the purchase&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The nearest expenditure was a N4&period;8 billion spending for Asphalting the airport runway in Ebonyi&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>The total capital expenditure for the health ministry in the first three months of 2024 stood at N50 million&comma; the capital expenditure for the ministry of infrastructural development and concession stood at N2&period;4 billion&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Only N1&period;8 billion was spent by power and energy ministry&comma; and N6&period;3 billion by Ministry of Aviation and technology&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>As of the 2022 multidimensional poverty index&comma; unemployment in Ebonyi was put at 40&period;2&percnt;&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>This would mean that four out of every ten persons in Ebonyi are unemployed&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>In Ebonyi&comma; 1&period;7 million persons within the ages of 0-17 are multidimensionally poor while another 1&period;9 million persons who are 18-years upward are also noted as poor&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Ebonyi is also the highest in the south eastern Nigeria&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>87&percnt; of persons in Ebonyi are deprived of sanitary facilities&comma; 71&percnt; lack access to clean drinking water&comma; school attendance stands at only 16&period;6&percnt; in Ebonyi&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em><strong>Reports have also highlighted the poor state of health centres in Ebonyi State for instance&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;