Imo Pays Discriminatory Severance Allowance

Imo Government has paid N18. 2 million as 50 per cent of severance benefits to 14 of the 27 immediate past members of the state House of Assembly.

Our correspondent gathered Tuesday in Owerri that the recipients were paid on Saturday and that each of them received N1. 3 million out of the expected N2. 6 million. The payment of the allowances was allegedly said to have been done to only those close to the government.

The Tide gathered that the beneficiaries were allegedly those that masterminded the impeachment of the former Speaker Goodluck Opia.

Opia was impeached on May 31, 2011, a day to the expiration of the state third assembly. The recipients were also alleged to have, immediately after Opia’s removal, championed the repealing of some bills earlier passed by the house which the present administration allegedly did not fancy. Meanwhile, all the political appointees of the former Governor, Ikedi Ohakim,were allegedly yet to be paid their severance allowances as well as April and May 2011 salaries.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dr Obinna Duruji, said that he was yet to clearly understand circumstances surrounding the seeming the payment.

Duruji, however, appealed to Ohakim’s aides to exercise patience saying that, Gov. Okorocha’s administration had not refused to pay them, as believed in some quarters.

“The issue is not that they will not be paid. I am appealing to them to exercise patience with government,” he said.  In another development, the Imo Government says it has recovered over N800 million in the last four months, following the verification of workers exercise conducted in the state.

The Special Assistant to the Governor on Print Media, Mr Ebere Uzoukwa, said in a statement in Owerri, that the amount was being paid to non-existent workers in the past.  He explained that an average of N200 million was being saved each month, following the exercise initiated by Gov. Rochas Okorocha, to block leakages and ensure prudence in the management of public resources.

Uzoukwa also said that about N150 million was recovered during the recent payment of pension arrears to retirees in the state.

“Governor Okorocha had on assumption of office, introduced measures that blocked revenue leakages as well as stopped frivolous spending that drained the resources of the state,” he said.

He expressed the determination of the administration to ensure prudence and accountability in the management of the state’s resources, warning that the government would not condone the activities of corrupt officials in its service.