Why Bauchi government suspended financing of funeral services

The Bauchi State Government Thursday explained why it sacked heads of administration in the 20 local government areas and suspended public financing of funeral services in the state.

The government had Wednesday banned the public sector financing of funeral service introduced by former governor Abubakar Sani Bello’s administration.

It also sacked heads of administration in the 20 LGAs in the ongoing reorganization in the public sector.

The state Commissioner of Information and Communication, Dr. Ladan Salihu, said in a statement that the heads of administration were sacked to allow the smooth conduct of workers’ Bank Verification Number (BVN) verification exercise in the respective local government areas and to block all financial leakages in the state public sector.

According to him, the state government’s financing of funeral services was suspended to stop the looting of public funds in the name of humanitarian services as over N2 billion has already been spent on the project by the immediate past administration in the state.

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He said: “The suspension of the funding of burial services by the state government is to stop the looting of public funds in the name of humanitarian services. Over N2billion was claimed to have been spent on the funding of such services by the immediate past administration.

“Instead of using public funds for such services, the state government has decided to sponsor the monthly provision of woods being used in graveyards across the state capital while members of the state cabinet will take charge of the provision of woods in their respective local government areas.

“We will designate our little resources and channel them to critical areas of needs such as infrastructure, health, education, and others.”

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