Ogun State to Pay Severance Entitlements to Former Councillors

Ogun State is set to disburse outstanding severance entitlements to former councillors who served between 2021 and 2024. Ganiyu Hamzat, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, assured that Governor Dapo Abiodun has directed the payments, and the process is actively moving forward.

Hamzat explained that the government is working through the financial implications, including addressing bank loans some former councillors have taken. "We need to sort this out so that we pay the bank before they ask the council or the state government to pay back," he stated, emphasizing that the ex-councillors would eventually receive their due payments.

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We are working on it and as soon as we are done, they will get their severance. The governor has actually directed that we should go and work the cost implication which we have done. Some of them are owing anyway, they have taken loans from banks.

The assurance comes after the former councillors, organized as the Ogun State Councillors Forum, 2021–2024, publicly appealed for the release of their benefits. They emphasized that the payment would offer significant relief to former political office holders facing financial hardship after leaving their positions.

Abass Mohammed, a former Leader of the Legislative Council of Ijebu North Local Government, spoke on behalf of the group, detailing the struggles faced by some members in meeting basic family and medical needs. He also noted the forum's loss of approximately 25 members and highlighted that at least two former secretaries to local governments are currently dealing with severe medical issues, according to the forum's information.

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We need to sort this out so that we pay the bank before they ask the council or the state government to pay back. That is where we are, but I can assure you they will get their money.