By Umar Bayo Abdulwahab
Ilorin
Serving 193 local government councillors in Kwara state took to the streets in Ilorin, the state capital, yesterday, protesting their eight months unpaid salaries.
The councillors whose tenure expires on November 10 also demanded for the payment of their N2.4 furniture and severance allowance.
Carrying placards with various inscriptions, the councillor marched in a convoy of vehicles from Fate roundabout to the state House of Assembly.The councillors, who had met with Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed in Ilorin last week over non-payment of their allowance, rejected the alleged plan to reduce their allowances from 300 percent of their basic salary to 50 per cent of their basic salary.
Chairman of the councillors, Hon. Opeyemi Adeojo, who said their tenure would expire on November 10, 2016, added that each councillor is entitled to N1.2 million severance allowances and N1.2 million furniture allowances.
He said: “We earlier said the issue at hand is a family matter and that our governor is a listening governor. We met with the governor and we discovered that some people in some quarters had met with governor trying to mislead our governor.
“The governor claimed that there’s no severance allowance for the elected council members. And that our furniture allowance is 50 per cent of our basic salary as against the fact that it is 300 per cent of our basic salary as confirmed from RMAFC. That’s what we disputed against.”
But, in a swift reaction, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Communication, Dr. Muideen Akorede, said the governor had assured the councillors that once the economic situation in the country improves and the government receives expected revenue inflows, the local government councils would pay the councillors and others the statutory allowances and entitlements due to them.
