Adamawa State has been thrown into outrage following reports that 21 local government chairmen sponsored their wives on a leadership training trip to Istanbul, Turkey.
The delegation, accompanied by senior officials of the state’s Ministry of Local Government, reportedly left Nigeria last week for the programme.
Defending the controversial trip, Suleiman Toungo, chairman of Toungo LGA and leader of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in the state, argued that the training was necessary to equip their spouses with leadership skills.
“We did our training two months ago, so I do not see anything wrong with our wives going for training outside the country,” Toungo said.
“They are our wives and we need their advice. We are looking at the importance of training them on leadership, not the cost.”
But the explanation has not doused public anger. Many Nigerians have described the foreign trip as wasteful and insensitive, especially at a time when pensioners and workers in the state are battling unpaid entitlements.
Social media has been awash with criticism. A user, @MartynsObot, wrote: “Do you have to attend a training in faraway Turkey to know how to administer your local government back in Nigeria? Do the instructors there know what the people in your LG are going through? This is wastage and misuse of public funds.”
Another commentator, @emmaikumeh, lamented: “Just in: 21 wives of Adamawa LG chairmen are in Turkey for training on how to ‘assist’ & ‘advise’ their husbands. Meanwhile, pensioners and staff remain unpaid. This country is a joke.”
Critics also pointed out that Adamawa, one of Nigeria’s poorest states, generated just a little over N13 billion in 2022 and remains heavily dependent on federal allocations.
They argue that such funds should be channeled into infrastructure, education, and social welfare rather than luxury foreign trips.
The controversy comes barely a year after the Supreme Court ruled that allocations must be paid directly to local governments to strengthen financial autonomy and end mismanagement by state governors.
For many observers, however, the Turkey trip is a glaring example of how public officials continue to prioritise personal comfort over governance and accountability.
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