By CHARLES IWUOHA

Forum of South East Former Councillors have hailed Governor Alex Otti of Abia state over what it described as the rare gesture of the payment of unpaid statutory entitlements of all sets of former councillors of the state.

The forum which spoke in a statement it issued through its coordinator and secretary respectively, Hon Chinedu Opara and Hon David Uka, pointed out that the governor’s action will go down in history as the very first time in the region under this 4th republic that a governor paid all sets of former councillors from 1999 till date.

Before now according to the body what we used to see in the region, was selective payment model which resulted in the payment of some sets and leaving off of other sets, thus making the Abia model comprehensive and rare.

The forum stated that the third tier of government, the local government system,like the other two tiers, the federal and state governments, were all created by the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.

However, it noted that as a result of the further provision by the same constitution that state governments should oversee the running of the local government system, successive administrations at that level have always leveraged the privilege, to encumber the seamless and dignified operations of the local government system.

Some of the very well known strategies the state governments’ have been using for long to make governance and democracy challenging and unattractive at that level,according to the group included the admintration and management of the tier with unelected officials, and the persistent poor treatment of officials elected once in a while.

According to the forum; across the South East Region, and in fact the country, apart from the culture of disruption of democratic process at the local government level, elected and even appointed officials legitimate remuneration and other statutory allowances, are usually not paid in full when in service, while they are largely not paid their severance and other entitlements due to them after exiting office.

This frustrating situation the group stressed, has always led a situation where immediately after exiting office councillors and other elected and appointed officials return home, to face poverty, hunger and hardship. This unfortunate situation not only makes it extremely difficult for them to take care of themselves and families, but expose them to diseases some of which end up claiming their lives, due to their inability to access proper medicare.

The South East Councillors Forum emphasized that Governor Otti by his compassionate, thoughtful and humanitarian decision to pay all sets of former councillors in Abia State, has not only set standards and made history, but most importantly has restored hope and life to the thousands of the benefitting councillors, the hundreds of thousands that depend on them, and further boosted the state economy with the injection of more disposable fund.

It highlighted that it was because of the numerous positive fallout of that his rare demonstration that it decided to publicly and openly applaud him. The body while acknowledging that his brother governors” in the other four states are also making efforts to address the challenge of full and comprehensive offsetting of monies owed ex councillors in their various states, however called on them to borrow a leaf from Governor Otti, and muster the necessary political will to once and for all bring the matter to a logical conclusion as has been done by the Abia State Governor.