Bayelsa Approves Allowance Arrears For Ex-Councillors

Bayelsa State Government has approved for payment, the backlog of allowances owed former councillors, who served eight local governments from 2013 to 2016.

The government has directed the chairmen of the councils to begin payment of the arrears by instalments not later than next month.

Deputy Governor Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo gave the directive at a meeting with the local government chairmen and representatives of the Restoration Councillors’ Forum, at the Government House, Yenagoa.

He said after consideration of the current financial position of the councils, the government and the Mrs. Ebiere Igodo Adeh-led committee agreed on the payment of a monthly instalment of N100,000 to each of the former councillors

He, however, noted that the amount, which was also endorsed by the council chairmen, would be increased to N200,000 any month the councils received improved allocations, in order to shorten the repayment period.

Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who faulted some of the monetary claims presented by the councillors, noted that slight adjustments were made, as records showed that some of them had received overpayments before leaving office.

He said: “We have agreed that we start the payment with N100,000 to each councillor for each month, because of the resources available to the councils.

“We have gone through the records. The first thing we want to correct is the amount some of you declared as outstanding allowance. We discovered that what some of you declared was not the right amount. So this has been adjusted.”