UMUAHIA – A former councillor in Bende Local Government Area of Abia, Chief Okechukwu Iboko, has identified greed and the ghost workers syndrome as the bane of local government administration in the state.
Iboko told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia on Tuesday that the problem of local government administration in the state had nothing to do with poor funding.
‘’Local governments are properly funded but the problem is with the mentality of our people, who want to eat more and more,’’ he said.
He noted that such people often resisted attempts to wedge all the financial leakages in the system.
Iboko, who was first elected in 2008 as a councillor in Aba North Local Government Area, said that although the council was getting its allocation regularly, the councillors and council workers were owed.
‘’We were owed nine months salary arreas while the council workers were owed 10 months between 2008 and 2010,’’ he said.
He said the arrears, which ran into billions of naira, were latter offset by Gov. Theodore Orji.
He said that the councillors’ furniture and severance allowances were still outstanding, saying: “I am still owed my severance and furniture allowances.’’
Iboko, who was the Chairman of the Abia Councillors’ Forum before the dissolution of the local government transition committees, explained that at least 2,000 ghost workers were identified during last year’s staff audit. (NAN)
