Ekiti pays N140m severance package to past office holders

Ekiti State Government has paid N140 million severance package to former elected public officials at the local council level.

The beneficiaries were those elected in 1999, 2006 and 2008.

The state governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, gave the order for the payment in Ado-Ekiti at a meeting he held with them.

A statement by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Idowu Adelusi yesterday, quoted the governor as saying that the entitlements must also be paid to the families of those who had died.

He warned local council officials against playing politics with the exercise.

The governor said: “Despite the economic challenges we are facing as a state, we feel it is our duty to honour those who had served our state in the past among whom are former public office holders. They have contributed your own quota to the development of our state. The families of those that are dead should be given too.

“The ‎exercise has nothing to do with politics and must be fairly shared. We made some payments some months ago and we are doing this now. If this had been done in the past, the backlog would have been cleared now. If not for the financial challenges we are facing, we would have paid everything.”

Fayose, who urged leaders of the state to take actions that are in the best interest of the state, promised the people to expect the best from his administration, despite the economic recession.
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Speaking on behalf of beneficiaries, Mr. Akinola Sadola, who commended the governor’s gesture, said: “We all know what the situation in the country is. As a group, we appreciate the governor’s efforts and we are also pledging our unflinching support for him.”