The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has said that he had never collected double emoluments since he had been elected into various political positions in the country.
The minister said that he had to make the clarification following claims that some former governors received double emoluments in consonance with the policy of transparency and integrity of the current Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.NGIGE, a former Senator from Anambra was also the Governor of the state 2003 to 2006.
He stressed that he had not drawn any money from the coffers of Anambra State since he left office and throughout his stay in the senate and now as a minister.
He said, “It is my considered opinion that I respond in the public interest, to the issue of double emoluments to former State Governors, which has drawn sustained media discourse and no less negative reactions from a cross section of Nigerians.
“I am doing this, being fully aware of the relevant sections of the law, public morality and the prevailing ethos of honest and transparent leadership, which the Federal Government of our great Party led by Muhammadu Buhari GCFR is battling to enthrone.
“It therefore becomes imperative for me to explain my own circumstance as I neither draw from nor have at any time drawn double emoluments, having been elected or appointed into public service positions at different times.
“I wish to put on record that since I left office in 2006 as Governor of Anambra State; through the four years I spent in the 7th Senate (June 2011-2015) and currently as the Hon. Minister of Labour and Employment with effect from November 11, 2015, I have never drawn a dime even in the intervening period that I was not in public office, as salary, emolument or pension from the Anambra State government coffers.”
He added that he did not receive the severance benefit prescribed the Anambra State House of Assembly law on pensions and other welfare benefits for governors and their deputies apart from two utility vehicles given to him some years ago.
He stated further that the Supreme Court affirmed that he was entitled to the benefits in a judgment in Mike Balonwu versus Anambra State Government which declared him governor between 2003 and 2006.
Ngige explained that the explanation became necessary because of calls he had been receiving from friends, members of his constituency and Labour on the issue.
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