Politics
By Anthony Isibor
THE Nsukka Journalist Foundation has released a communiqué to address the mounting issues of the ongoing Enugu pensions Laws.
In the communiqué, which was signed by Ejike Obeta, Committee Chairman, and Ikechukwu Odu, Committee Secretary, and released on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, after an emergency meeting of the group held in Nsukka Enugu State stated that gubernatorial pension law, which attempts to include the spouses of Enugu parliamentarians and pay them both pension and gratuity as well as make a provision for their state burials will not be accepted.
“We have been dismayed by media reports that a bill to further amend the Enugu State Gubernatorial Pensions Law 2007, first amended in 2017, passed its first reading at the Enugu State House of Assembly on March 11, 2021, and that, as a consequence of the uproar which followed it, the House stepped it down on March 16.
It noted that Ikechukwu Ezeugwu, Leader of the Enugu State House of Assembly, in an attempt to justify the House’s action had quoted Section 124 (5) of the Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria. “This section provides that a state House of Assembly MAY make a law for the grant of a pension or a gratuity to a person who had held office as Governor or Deputy Governor, which shall be a charge upon the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state,” it said.
According to the group, the judgment of the Industrial Court and other courts of competent jurisdiction in 2007 over the severance allowance for former officeholders had rendered null and void any payment of “pension or gratuity” to ex-governors and ex-deputy governors”
The group argued that the decision of the Industrial Court and other courts of competent jurisdiction in 2007 made the justification of the house null and void.
“We thought that the debate over severance allowance for former officeholders, which kick-started in 2007, had ended, after some courts of competent jurisdiction, including the Industrial Court, declared as null and void any payment of “pension or gratuity” to ex-governors and ex-deputy governors in states like Lagos, Kwara and Zamfara. The courts had ordered that such an allowance already paid should be retrieved from the beneficiaries.
“We also call on former governors and deputy governors of the state to return whatever benefits they may have received and enjoyed, on account of this anti-people law, to the state’s treasury immediately, following the verdict of the Courts,” it said.
The group, which rejected the parliamentarians attempt to amend the bill rather urged them to be me more concerned about pressing matters the affects the Enugu people especially in these times of economic hardship which has been compounded by the corona-virus pandemic
“We wish to convey in very strong terms and without equivocation, our collective embarrassment, as a body and indigenes of Enugu State, that a state such as Enugu, which is reeling under a crushing debt burden and which is unable to meet all its obligations to its civil servants and pensioners, would consider, and appear to support, this rather unfortunate Bill.
“We wish to enjoin the Enugu State Government, led by Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to be conscious of the state of the state’s finances, infrastructure gaps and deficits, and lack of basic amenities like water and electricity and thus prevail on the House of Assembly to do what is right, before man, before the people on whose votes their legitimacy is founded, and before God, whose Name and Grace Enugu State seemingly refers to.
“We are painfully aware of the need to provide water, better health facilities and services, job opportunities for teeming youths, better educational facilities, better teaching tools and personnel, among so many urgent needs of the state and her people. We believe that scarce resources ought to be better deployed towards improving these physical, material and social infrastructures. We are also aware that, were this Bill ever passed, the medical allowances so provided would only encourage medical tourism, and a movement of scarce funds of Enugu State to other places such as Lagos, Abuja and Dubai, considering the poverty of current health facilities and services.
“Indeed, we are dismayed and wish to express our disappointment in the leadership and membership of the State House of Assembly, as well as known and unknown supporters, sponsors, and defenders of this Bill, for not deeming it fit, considering the difficulties faced by civil servants and pensioners in Enugu State, to REPEAL the 2007 Law.
“We wish to, therefore, urged the Enugu State House of Assembly to quickly repeal the obnoxious law [Enugu State Gubernatorial Pensions Law 2007, as amended in 2017],” it said.
The group also threatened to sue the state assembly to court if in 90 days it does not retrace its step and quickly repeal the obnoxious law [Enugu State Gubernatorial Pensions Law 2007, as amended in 2017.
“If this is not done within the next 90 days, the Nsukka Journalists Foundation, whose motto is “Conscience of the People”, shall not hesitate to approach a court of competent jurisdiction, as well as the court of moral conscience and public opinion, to decide on the matter,” the group warned.
– Mar. 24, 2021 @ 12:30 GMT |
A.I
Tags: Ejike Obeta Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Ikechukwu Ezeugwu Ikechukwu Odu Nsukka Journalist Foundation Nsukka Journalist Foundation rejects amendment of Enugu state gubernatorial pension law
