Akpabio’s outlandish ‘pension’ package

According to the law, Akpabio would be allowed 100 million naira a year; a new car and a utility vehicle every four years, 5 million naira  a month for domestic staff pay, a personal aide and a security detail, a befitting house in Abuja and furniture allowance of 300 percent of his annual basic salary […]

According to the law, Akpabio would be allowed 100 million naira a year; a new car and a utility vehicle every four years, 5 million naira  a month for domestic staff pay, a personal aide and a security detail, a befitting house in Abuja and furniture allowance of 300 percent of his annual basic salary once every four years. The state must also bear the cost fuelling his vehicles at 300 percent of basic salary, and a monetised severance benefit of 300 percent of basic salary. It does not end there; Akpabio will also be entitled to a yearly utilities allowance of 100 percent of basic salary and an entertainment allowance of 100 percent of basic salary. Another provision is that the state must bear the full cost of burial expenses and pay a condolence allowance equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent governor. There are also other sundry benefits.
The Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, Mr Sam Ikon noted that the bill was passed to enable the governors and deputy governors ‘stay focused’ while in office. To demonstrate how seriously this was, the legislature concluded work on the bill in just 24 hours.  
Akwa Ibom gets 15 billion naira every month from the Federation Account; when its share of local government funds and internally generated revenues are added, the state should be much more than what it is now in terms of infrastructure and social development. Poverty is rampant and social amenities are limited only to the state capital and a couple of other towns.  
The law calls the provisions ‘retirement benefits’, a misnomer given that the term should apply only to the civil service, and flies in the face of the law establishing the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) which has the power to determine the emoluments of public office holders, including state governors and their deputies. It also does not address the possibility of Akpabio transmuting to become a Senator after next year’s election; in that case, would he be collecting both his ‘retirement benefits’ from the state and emoluments due him in the Senate?
This self-serving legislation is obscene in the contrast of its provisions to the widespread poverty that prevails in the state. It has no correlation to performance or achievements in office of the benefiting politicians.     This law and similar others passed by some states need to be reversed; the RMFAC should assert its authority by seeking interpretations of its functions against the assumed powers of states to encroach on them.  Already, the Akwa Ibom chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress has threatened mass action over the matter, describing the law as “outrageous and outright madness”. The sums involved would pay the benefits of the many retired primary school teachers and ex-staff of local governments who have not been paid their gratuities, the NLC said. The governor’s profligacy is astonishing. In June 2012, the state government confirmed that he had taken possession of a $45 million jet for his personal use. Who would own the aircraft after he leaves office is a question that has not been addressed.   While it is important to reprimand any political office holder who acts, perversely in self-interest, it is also important to realize that Governor Akpabio is not alone. The emolument of political office holders is a sore point in a country with mass poverty and unflattering low development and poor governance indices like Nigeria.  Any future amendment to the Nigerian Constitution must tackle the issue of a standardised benefits scheme for certain categories of political office holders when they leave office.
No governor, or any public office holder for that matter, should reward himself while in office when he is yet to give a full account of his stewardship.