The Forum of South East Former Councillors has hailed Governor Alex Otti of Abia State over what it described as the rare gesture of offsetting the unpaid statutory entitlements of former councillors in the state.
The forum in a statement signed by Chinedu Opara and David Uka, respectively, pointed out that the governor’s action will go down in history as the very first time that a governor in the South East, paid the entitlements of former councillors from 1999 till date.
Before now, the forum what obtained in the region, was selective payment, which resulted in the payment of some sets and leaving off of other sets, thus making the Abia State model comprehensive and rare.
The forum stated that the third tier of government, like the other two tiers, was all created by the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
However, it noted that as a result of the constitutional provision that state governments should oversee the running of the local governments, successive administrations at the state level have always leveraged the privilege, to encumber the operations of local governments.
The forum further accused state governments of making governance and democracy at the local government level challenging and unattractive, through the admintration and management of local governments, with unelected officials, and the persistent poor treatment of officials elected once in a while.
According to the forum; across the South East, and in fact the country, apart from the culture of disruption of democratic process at the local government level, elected and even appointed officials legitimate remuneration and other statutory allowances, are usually not paid in full when in service, while they are largely not paid their severance and other entitlements due to them after exiting office.
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This frustrating situation, the group stressed, has always led to a situation where immediately after exiting office, councillors and other elected and appointed officials return home, to face poverty, hunger and hardship.
“This unfortunate situation not only makes it extremely difficult for them to take care of themselves and families, but expose them to diseases some of which end up claiming their lives, due to their inability to access proper medicare,” the forum said in the statement.
It emphasized that Gov. Otti by his compassionate, thoughtful and humanitarian decision to pay all former councillors in Abia State, has not only set standards and made history, but most importantly, has restored hope and life to the thousands of the benefitting councillors, the hundreds of thousands that depend on them,and further boosted the state economy with the injection of more disposable fund.
