BENIN – Mr Saturday Ogbeide, the Chairman, Esan West Local Government Council in Edo, has attributed the inability of the council to pay the salaries of its workers to lack of funds.
Ogbeide said that the lack of funds was as a result of the huge debt profile inherited from past administrations.
He made the statement on Tuesday in Benin when he briefed members of the state assembly on the performance of his council between April 2013 and May 2014.
“Mr Speaker, it will interest you to know that one of the problems inherited from the past administrations is the high debt profile occasioned by projects executed and not paid for.
“This unfortunate situation has led to several litigations in favour of the contractors.
“In our bid to keep our promises to the people, we have been able to settle some of these debts running into millions of naira,’’ he said.
He listed the debt inherited by the council to include N16 million part payment for the construction of secretariat building, N33 million on road construction and N12 million expended on empowerment programme, among others.
“In no distant time, we hope to complete the payment of these debts with a view to putting an end to the problem of delay in payment of salaries,” Ogbeide promised.
[eap_ad_1] He told the legislators that his administration had put machinery in motion to settle the unpaid salary of its workers.
The Chairman of Esan North-East, Mr Sam Oboh, who also briefed the House, said plans were underway to build a new modern market in Uromi to boost internal generated revenue.
He said that the council had embarked on 47 projects across the local government areas.
Also speaking, Mr Joseph Ikpea, Chairman Esan South-East, said about 55 projects had been completed within the period under review.
The lawmakers, who were not satisfied with the chairman’s dress code, said that the brief he presented was not detailed.
The speaker, Mr Uyi Igbe said that the House would constitute an ad hoc committee to visit the councils to verify the authenticity of the presentation made by the chairmen. (NAN)
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