John Ighodaro
7 January 2009
The Cross River Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Mr. Edem Ekong has said that the state government has paid a total of N1.4billion severance allowance for elected public officials.
Speaking to newsmen at the NUJ Secretariat during a ministerial briefing in Calabar, he said Governor Liyel Imoke's administration paid the backlog of severance allowance spanning eight years (1999-2007).
He said most administrations all over the country often shied away from paying severance allowance because often times a new administration was saddled with the responsibility of paying the allowance which it often didn't feel inclined to do.
The commissioner said Governor Liyel Imoke merely took it as a challenge and paid the beneficiaries because he felt the more it was delayed the more it accumulated.
Barr. Edem Ekong also hinted that from this year, Local government chairmen who erred on budget issues or flouted Due Process regulations would be sanctioned.
He also advised the chairman to endeavour to finish projects that were left uncompleted by their predecessors especially when those projects were not averse to their programmes.
He however disclosed that the current crop of chairmen have been very good at completing unfinished projects carried over from previous administrations.
The Commissioner, who said his ministry monitors and coordinates activities of Local Governments in the state noted "ours is to act as laisons between the state".
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