Politics
STAKEHOLDERS in the South West, have kicked against laws granting life pension for former governors and their deputies, a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) survey has revealed.
The stakeholders interviewed in Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara, said that the laws on life pension were unacceptable to majority of Nigerians.
They said that there was no justification for the passage of the law bestowing the governors and their deputies life pensions, but a former deputy governor of Ogun, Sen. Adegbenga Kaka, told NAN that the pension was necessary to sustain the status of such political office holders after leaving office.
He confirmed that the policy existed in Ogun, adding that he was a beneficiary of the monthly pension, which according to him, is the basic salary of the incumbent governor.
The former deputy governor described the arrangement as a means of sustaining the former governors and their deputies so that they would not live in penury after office.
“The idea of the payment is that it will be discouraging and demoralising for elected officials of the status of governors and deputy governors, presidents and vice presidents to leave office and be living in penury.
“There are those who are likely to be contented with whatever comes their way after retirement, but we should note that that there are some positions that those former office holders can no longer aspire to, hence they deserve the compensation.
“Just like judges after retirement can no longer go back to the bar, so they’re compensated in one way or another.
“Once there is all these types of pensions for the governors and the deputy governors, then the tendency is that they will not be afraid of the future to now compromise the ethics of that status while in office or anytime.
“By so doing, they don’t need to steal and they don’t need to be crooked in order to insure against their future,” he said.
Kaka, however, raised objection to the idea of “bogus amount” as pensions for the former governors and their deputies.
“If some people work for 35 years and we know what their pension is, then to award extraneous bonuses to former office holders is not just good enough.
“To award basic salary of the incumbent may be tolerable but those who are now saying one house in Abuja, one in your state and every three years, you change your vehicles, that is totally absurd and I think it shouldn’t be so at the expense of the taxpayers,” he said.
Mr Emmanuel Olu-Alade , Chairman, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Abeokuta branch, said such policy runs contrary to the 1999 constitution as amended, which stipulates that a pensioner must have worked for at least 10 years and must be up to 45 years of age.
“Going by this provision, no governor or president is qualified for a life pension since none work beyond eight years,” he said.
Dr Adebayo Oni, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), condemned the payment of life pensions to ex-governors and their deputies.
Oni described such arrangement as illegal, saying that “life pensions is meant only for those who have served for a minimum of 10 years”.
Corroborating this, Mr Dare Olukosi, Company Secretary, Nigerian Life and Pensions Consultants (NLPC), said that the Pension Reform Act of 2004 had changed the Nigerian pension system from defined benefits to defined contributions.
He said the implication of the reform was that private and public sector workers could only be entitled to a pension from the funds they contributed while in active pensionable work.
Olukosi opined that payment of pensions for for governors and their deputies would plunge Nigeria back into the challenges it faced on pensions before the 2004 pensions reforms when government was solely responsible for funding of pensions.
He recalled that the situation then created a huge financial burden for the government which later resulted in long delays or outright failure to pay pensions of many retirees.
Meanwhile, a cross section of civil servants in Oyo state described life pension for former governors and their deputies as selfish and reckless.
The workers, who pleaded not to be named, posited that the economic situation of states in Nigeria, particularly Oyo state, wasn’t favourable for ‘such generosity’.
One of the respondents, a deputy director, said a situation whereby Oyo state finds it difficult to implement new minimum wage and execute masses’ oriented projects such as infrastructure development, should be of concern of people- friendly government.
He decried reckless spending of public funds by political office holders at the detriment of the state workforce and the masses in general, saying such life pension for former governors and deputies was greatly contributing to the nation’s economy woes.
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, Dr Rex Olawoye said political office holders including former governors and their deputies were only entitled to severance allowance at the expiration of their tenure.
According to him, such severance allowance is paid once and for all, adding that payment of pension to governor or deputy governor is unknown to the constitution of the country.
“As political office holders, they are entitled to severance allowance and not pension, when they finish their tenure; they go back to their houses,” he added.
Olawoye said that some people who retired from civil service and venture into politics and became governor or deputy governor enjoy pension.
“They are enjoying their pension and they will continue to enjoy it even while serving as governor or deputy governor.
Dr AbdulGaffar Arikewuyo, of the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Ilorin described life pension for former governors and deputy governors as selfish.
He observed that the controversy was generated by some states who forwarded bills seeking to amend the law on pension for former governors and their deputies, adding that the move was wrong.
“I am totally against this bill for many reasons. The governors and their deputies are there to serve us. We have been clamouring for the issue that politicians should not take politics as a full time job.
“Majority of our politicians will not only look at what is the immediate benefit, but will begin to also pay attention to future benefits,” he said.
He observed that though Kwara Government had indicated plans to repeal the law, he wondered how far this had been repealed.
Also, an Ilorin based lawyer, Mr Ridwan Ahmed, described the payment of life pension to former governors and their deputies as unnecessary and waste of resources.
He said no governor deserved pension after tenure as they have acquired more wealth during their service.
Alhaji Waheed Lawal, a human rights activist and Chairman, Osun Civil Society Coalition, said that payment of life pension to former governors and their deputies, when some states could not pay N30,000 minimum wage to civil servants was anti-people policy.
“For the former governors and their deputies, who collected free money, ate free food, lived in government houses for years for free, to now be placed on life pension, when majority of the masses are wallowing in abject poverty, is very wrong, and the move should be kicked against,” he said.
Lawal said those in government should use the state resources to better the lives of people rather than paying ex-governors and their deputies life pensions.
Mr Olalekan Babatunde, a lawyer, said that life pension for former governors and their deputies was an attack on the commonwealth of the people and should be discouraged.
” Osun is not buoyant financially, therefore paying life pension to former governors and deputies will be a great injustice to the masses that elected them to office.
” I believe what they earned while in office should be enough for them after leaving office, moreover majority of them are well to do before venturing into politics,’’ he said.
Dr Michael Oke, a senior lecturer at the Department of Banking and Finance, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, said that the payment of life pension to ex-governors, their deputies or any political office holder, was an anomaly.
” They do not deserve it because already, they got more than they deserved while in office.
“Life pension for them is nothing but taking undue advantage of the country.
“It is very injurious to the well-being of majority of Nigerians and it tends to worsen the already lopsided financial management by the government,” he stated.
Oke added that the dwindling resources of the country could not even sustain the policy, if allowed to take effect.
Mr Sunday Bamidele, a sociologist, described the life pension as a means of exploiting the masses.
“When a state cannot afford to pay its workers N30,000, then what is the essence of paying former governors and their deputies such huge amounts for life?
“They have already spent their terms in office, and with the level of their salaries and emoluments which run into millions per month, they shouldn’t be getting pension again,” he said.
A journalist, Mr Ayodeji Abimbola, also said governors do not deserve life pension as they were elected to serve for a limited time.
Abimbola said the thought of life pension for governors was sheer wickedness of the highest order “and no right thinking government should adopt it.”
“Governors don’t deserve life pension . They are elected to serve and not to receive pension. Our politics is too lucrative, and that is why election has become do-or- die.
“Why should a governor who was in office for eight years be pensionable and minimum wage of a worker remains N30,000?
“This is madness of the highest order. Having enjoyed the benefits of office for eight years, they should go home and rest,” he said.
NAN
– Mar. 28, 2021 @ 15:39 GMT |
Tags: deputies – NAN Survey South West stakeholders oppose life pension for ex governors
