THE decision to sponsor the wives of 21 local government chairmen in Adamawa State on a “leadership training” trip to Istanbul, Turkey, has ignited widespread backlash, with workers, retirees, and civil society groups describing the move as insensitive, wasteful, and a flagrant abuse of public funds.
News Point Nigeria reports that the controversial trip, which reportedly included senior officials from the Ministry of Local Government, has sparked fury in a state already grappling with pension arrears, unpaid entitlements, and mounting economic hardship.
Defending the decision, Suleiman Toungo, chairman of Toungo Local Government and head of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) in Adamawa, insisted there was “nothing wrong” with sending the spouses abroad for training.
“They are our wives and we need their advice. We are looking at the importance of training them on leadership, not the cost,” Toungo argued, noting that the chairmen themselves had attended a similar programme only two months earlier.
However, not all council bosses appear to be on board. One northern Adamawa council chairman, who spoke anonymously, said he was blindsided by the project.
“I was sleeping when I got a call from an ALGON official asking for my wife’s details for a visa. That was the first time I heard of the project. Nobody consulted me. This is simply an abuse of public funds,” he told this newspaper.
This revelation has raised deeper questions about how the trip was conceived, who approved it, and whether due process was followed.
The loudest critics have been retirees and labour unions, who say the decision mocks their suffering.
Abubakar Shehu, a 75-year-old pensioner from Yola North, condemned the junket as a “mockery of democracy.”
“What is the leadership position of local government chairmen’s wives? Even the wife of the governor is not sent abroad for leadership training. This is nothing but corruption,” he declared, urging the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to intervene.
Another retiree, who declined to be named, called on Governor Ahmadu Fintiri to step in and hand the case over to anti-graft agencies.
“If the state government wants to preserve its image, this scandal must be investigated,” he said.
The outrage comes just months after the state government announced an ₦8 billion bailout to offset pension arrears, yet many retirees say they have seen no relief. To them, the Istanbul trip represents misplaced priorities and elite indifference to grassroots suffering.
Labour unions argue that the episode reflects the dangers of unchecked local government autonomy, warning that without tighter oversight, development funds will continue to be diverted into frivolities.
“Some of these wives did not even complete primary school, yet they are being flown to Istanbul in the name of leadership training,” a retired local government staffer lamented.
The controversy has quickly escalated into a governance scandal, with labour groups mobilising pressure on anti-corruption agencies to scrutinise the spending.
‘We have sent a petition to the EFCC and we are sure the anti-graft agency will intervene soon. This is misappropriation of public funds at the highest mark of it’, a senior labour official in the state told News Point Nigeria.