Adamawa State local government chairmen have reportedly sponsored their 21 wives and senior officials of the Ministry of Local Government, on a leadership training trip to Istanbul, Turkey, while pensioners and workers in the state remain unpaid.
The purpose of the trip is to train the women on how to ‘assist’ and ‘advice’ their Husbands as LG chairmen wives.
The development has sparked outrage among workers and retirees, who condemned it as wasteful and insensitive in the face of unpaid gratuities and economic hardship.
Confirming the trip, the Chairman of Toungo Local Government and state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Suleiman Toungo, defended the initiative. He argued that council chairmen had undergone similar overseas training two months earlier and that their spouses also deserved capacity building.
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“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 The 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 critics sharply disagreed. A 75-year-old retiree from Yola North, Abubakar Shehu, described the trip as a financial scandal and urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intervene. “What is the leadership position of local government chairmen’s wives? Even the governor’s wife is not sent abroad for such training. This is corruption and a mockery of democracy in Adamawa State,” he said.
Another retired staff, who requested anonymity, called on Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to order an investigation, warning that the trip undermined the credibility of his administration.
Even some serving council chairmen expressed discontent. One from northern Adamawa, who spoke anonymously, said he was not consulted before his wife’s name was included on the travel list. “I was sleeping when I got a call asking me to send my wife’s details for a visa. That was the first time I heard of it. This is simply an abuse of public funds,” he said.
Workers’ unions have now joined retirees in demanding a probe by anti-graft agencies, describing the trip as an insult to struggling staff and pensioners in the state.
