Ex-Niger councillors angry over unpaid benefits

The former councillors were asked to converge on the invitation of the state government to meet the governor over their benefits but were told that the governor would not be available to see them.
One of them, Mohammed Dikko from Tafa LGA told Daily Trust that when they were invited they were told that the meeting was at the instance of the governor and that the discussion would be centred on their unpaid furniture and severance allowances only to be told that the governor was not around.
According to him, the permanent secretary in the Government House, Hamisu Jankaro, who addressed them, said the state government was not in the position to pay the allowances due to the present financial predicament.
“Instead of the governor to see us as stated, only the Permanent Secretary addressed us saying government had no money to pay us”, he said.
Dikko said to add to their grief, they were given N1m to share as transport but he could not understand how much each would get considering their number and the distance many of them covered to get to the meeting.
Contacted, Jankaro said government was working on the allowances as some had already been settled, adding that as soon as all procedures were completed the remaining would get their benefits.