Assembly probes unpaid salaries of ex-councillors

The Lagos State House of Assembly is to probe the
non-payment of arrears, severance benefits and
salaries of former political office holders of the local
government areas in the state from 1999 till date.
The Speaker of the House, Adeyemi Ikuforij, at a
plenary session on Tuesday, directed Committee on
Local Government Administration to investigate the
matter following petitions by former councillors in
the state.
Earlier, the Leader of the House, Dr. Ajibayo Adeyeye,
lamented the complaints in the LGAs following non-
payment of benefits of past political office holders of
local councils.
He said, "Just last Monday, some former political
office holders of 2005-2008 tenure staged protests to
the House over non-payment and withholding
salaries and arrears of councillors by some council
chairmen. This trend is worrisome and needs urgent
intervention."
The leader urged the House to take holistic approach
towards finding a permanent solution to the problem.
He said, "The Deputy Whip, Rotimi Abiru, who is a
former office holder with Somolu LGA has confirmed
that he is still being owed some arrears by the
council."
The House directed the committee to investigate the
development and report back in two weeks.
In a related development, the House adopted the
report of a five-day workshop on budget and finance,
which recommended the monitoring of the revenue
profile of the state.
The Assembly subsequently requested Ministries,
Department and Agencies to furnish it with the
progress reports on the implementation of their
budget on quarterly basis.