The Nation Newspaper

Tag: council officials

  • Suspected gunmen abduct council officials, NURTW secretary

    Suspected gunmen at the weekend struck on Ifira-Akoko-Idoani-Ipele Road in Ondo State.

    They reportedly abducted two officials of Akure North Local Government.

    Sources said one of the victims was the treasurer.

    The Nation learnt that the suspected gunmen kidnapped the officials after robbing the six occupants of a Highlander Sport Utility Vehicle, which conveyed them to a social event.

    The hoodlums reportedly took two of them to a bush.

    The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) for Akoko South East Local Government, Abiodun Ojediran, who confirmed the abduction, said: “Our men and officers are combing the bush to rescue the victims.”

    He said hunters were also making efforts to rescue the council officials.”

    The gunmen have not made contact with the victims’ families.

    A community leader at Ifira-Akoko, Asiwaju Boboye Ojomo, attributed robberies and kidnappings on Akoko roads to the deplorable conditions of the roads, which he said, prevented easy movement.

    He said: “These roads need government attention. Security personnel should be deployed in the area.”

    The Secretary, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Ondo State, Segun Agbeyangi, has been reportedly kidnapped at Osu in Atakunmosa Local Government of Osun State.

    The incident, a source said, occurred on Ife-Ilesa Expressway while he was travelling from Akure, the Ondo State capital, to Ogun State last Saturday.

  • 12 council officials arrested for engaging in traffic duty

    TWELVE local government officials have been arrested for engaging in traffic duty contrary to the law,  Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) General Manager Olawale Musa has said.

    They were caught  by a special team set up to curb such nefarious activities in the last one month.

    Musa urged motorists to report anybody, who is not in LASTMA uniform, that  attempts to arrest or extort money from them to the nearest police station or any other law enforcement agency.

    The LASTMA chief was addressing motorists at the agency’s head office in Oshodi, who  came to complain about the excesses of  council officials operating in mufti.

    Musa said the law barring council officials from controlling traffic was still in force.

    The complainants accused the council officials of arresting and towing their vehicles to their offices and facilities.

    According to them, many motorists have become victims of the officials’ arbitrariness and assault.

    He  said LASTMA had been inundated with motorists’ complaints about the council officials’  activities, adding : “The local government traffic officials are in the habit of displaying lack respect for motorists and members of the public. The whole arrangement is more of job for the boys and therefore operate in anything goes manner. Motorists accosted by such officials should not yield to their intimidation and demand for money irrespective of location being taken to.

    “We have been consistent in our position that no other government official at the state and local government level is assigned statutory responsibility of controlling and managing traffic outside the LASTMA officials. Therefore, motorists and commuters should not yield to demand of any individual not in LASTMA uniform to take advantage of them.”

  • Widow dies after ‘assault by council officials’

    Widow dies after ‘assault by council officials’

    Officials of the Tenement Rate Unit, Akure South Local Government, have allegedly killed a 38-year-old hairdresser, Mrs. Toyin Ijiyemi, while seizing her TV set for failing to pay tax.

    Sources alleged that Ijiyemi fell while dragging the TV with the council officials.

    The tax collectors were alleged to have taken the TV set to their vehicle and left the scene without attending to the deceased.

    The woman was said to have died later and her remains deposited at the mortuary of the State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

    A relative of the deceased, Mojisola Otitilowo, said: “Toyin was in her shop at Bolajoko Street, Oke-Aro, Akure around 2p.m. when four council officials invaded the shop.

    Three of them disembarked from the vehicle they brought.

    “The officials asked her to pay the rate for her shop. Efforts made by Toyin to appeal to them not to seize her TV failed. She did not have money. She begged them that she would pay the money the next day.

    “They rejected her plea. One of them removed the TV from where it was placed, Toyin dragged it with them. She fell. Despite that, the council officials went away with the TV.”

    The Nation learnt a nearby passenger, who came to buy sachet water, discovered that Toyin was unconscious and she shouted, attracting people, who rushed to the scene and poured water on Toyin to revive her.

    Our correspondent gathered that when it was realised that Toyin had died, the matter was reported at ‘B’ Division Police Station, Oke-Aro.

    The police arrested the tax officials.

    The deceased’s mother, Mrs. Abike Ijiyemi, wept when our reporter visited her at Alade-Idanre in Idanre Local Government.

    The septuagenarian said: “In the morning of the day she was killed, she called me and said she had bought foodstuffs for me. She promised to bring them to me the next day. Instead of fulfilling her promise, it was the announcement of her death they brought to me.

    “My daughter was a widow. Her husband died four years ago. She took care of their only child since then. She sponsored their 24-year-old son, a student of Gateway Polytechnic, Ogun State. She took care of me and paid my debts.”

    The deceased’s only child, Ayodele Adelanke, said his mother’s killers should be prosecuted, adding that she must not die in vain.

    Efforts to speak with the Caretaker Chairman of the council, Mrs. Margret Atere, failed. Our correspondent waited in her office for over two hours without seeing her.

    Sources said she was at police headquarters, Igbatoro Road, at the time our reporter was in her office.

    It was learnt that those arrested were casual workers of the local government engaged by the heads of the council to collect tax.

    A source said: “The heads of the council are fond of bringing people outside to collect taxes. I’m sure if they had allowed members of staff to do their job, things such as this would not have happened, because they are trained how to interact with the public.”

    Police spokesman Femi Joseph, who confirmed the incident, described it as unfortunate.

    He said the suspects had been arrested.

    Joseph said investigation into the matter was on, adding that the suspects would soon be arraigned.

     

  • Wada at loggerheads with elected council officials

    Wada at loggerheads with elected council officials

    Kogi State Governor Idris Wada is at loggerheads with elected local government officials, for sidelining them on trumped up charges. Five months ago, the governor procured a high court judgment, to set aside the elected local government (LG) functionaries on grounds that the officials were stealing funds belonging to the councils, saying that was the reason why they were not able to pay full salaries. The government, through the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, took over direct payment of salaries of local government employees. This action contravenes the law guaranteeing the autonomy of the third tier of government.

    But, since the ministry took over payment of salaries, there has been no improvement as far as the payment of salaries of local government officials is concerned. The ministry has only been able to pay an average of 50 per cent of staff salaries; less than what the “thieving” chairmen were paying.

    This calls into question, the government’s rationale for taking over direct payment of salaries of LG employees, contrary to provisions in the 1999 Constitution guaranteeing LG autonomy. From January allocation alone, the state deducted a flat 12 million from each of the 21 local governments through the ministry, amounting to a total of 252 million.

    In addition, a sum of N1.2 billion is deducted from LG allocations each month for primary school teachers’ salary. Yet, teachers are being owed five months arrears. According to observers, many of the chairmen are afraid of speaking out because those who dared to question the development have been hounded out of office by the governor’s aides.

    An attempt was made to pacify the councilors, who were elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), when they threatened to defect the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). On February 12, they were invited to see the governor, perhaps to settle the matter internally within the party. But, the governor kept them waiting for eight hours and eventually refused to see them.

    Prior to this development, the chairmen were tongue-lashed publicly, in front of journalists, because they dared to ask why teachers were not being paid regularly. The political appointees of Governor Wada, who are part of the beneficiaries of the fraud in the State Universal Basic education Board (SUBEB), misinformed the governor that the council chairmen could not pay full salaries because they were stealing local fund. The governor who had been looking for an opportunity to deal with the chairmen, for being “assertive” summoned and lambasted them before media men.

    According to observers, the issue of delay in payment of salaries has been a recurring decimal. As at May 7, 2013, when the elected council assumed office, virtually all the LGs owed their workers several months’ arrears of salaries running to hundreds of millions of naira. The reasons for the anomaly, according to the observers, are: the dwindling revenue allocations; prevalence of ghost workers; the over-bloated staff position as a result of illegal recruitments between 2010 and 2013 and over deductions from the Statutory Revenue Allocations (SRA) of some local government councils, irrespective of their monthly actual teachers’ salaries bills.

    Though staff screening exercises were carried, which led to disengagement of most illegally-recruited staff in November, 2013, it is believed that ghost workers still exist within the system. Similar screening exercises were carried in conjunction with each local government chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), to determine the actual number of teaching and non-teaching staff. The aims, among others, were to determine the monthly teachers’ salary bill of each local government, so as to determine the monthly amount deductible from each LG statutory revenue allocations.

    Even though SUBEB board had been dissolved twice on account of fraud within the past 18 months, results are yet to be implemented up to now. It is so ridiculous that local government councils with less than 800 teachers and those with more than 3,500 teachers contribute equal amount common black purse called SUBEB. Even at that, the over N1.4 billion deducted every month never gets to the teachers as at when due. Kogi State owes teachers three months salaries.