The Kaduna State Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mohammed Abdullahi has alleged that former governor of the state, Mukthar Ramalan Yero spent over N2.1bn on sweets, juice and chocolates to entertain guests in 2014 alone.

Abdullahi said this on Saturday at at a roundtable on the 2017 draft budget organised by the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.

The commissioner also said over N2bn was used to train and retrain workers who didn’t need them.

Abdullahi gave an instance of an accountant given a training meant for an architect during Yero’s administration.

The commissioner also said the past administration bought rice and chicken with N40m monthly for the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna.

He said,  “So, when we started the zero-based budget as soon as we came to power, civil servants in the state were not happy because they were doing budget without executing the project, and the money, for instance N20m, could go into an individual’s pocket.

“They keep on saying that this is not the way it is done, but we told them that we wanted to do it in our own way because this is a change regime. So, we recollected and redirected the budget draft.

“We inherited N8.6bn from the immediate past government which was in several bank accounts, but we were able to realise N38bn when we introduced the Treasury Single Account.

“We have money in the state, and it is not that we cannot pay salaries, but it was because we were doing the verification of workers, which had delayed payment of pensions and salaries. But as I speak to you, by this October, pensioners will get their payments.”

The former governor when contacted said, he would not respond to an allegation “from a bloody commissioner.”

Azeez