On life pension for state legislators

Nigerians received with sadness the news that the Kano State House of Assembly has passed the Pension Rights of Speaker and Deputy Law 2019 which will enable the two presiding officers to enjoy life pension after leaving office. Nigerians are worried by the fact that this is happening in the same Kano State where pensioners […]

Nigerians received with sadness the news that the Kano State House of Assembly has passed the Pension Rights of Speaker and Deputy Law 2019 which will enable the two presiding officers to enjoy life pension after leaving office. Nigerians are worried by the fact that this is happening in the same Kano State where pensioners under the aegis of Kano State Pensioners Forum (KSPF) protested the State Government’s delay in settling their outstanding gratuities, pension arrears and death benefits. What is the justification in denying a civil servant who served for 35 years his or her gratuity and pension only to pay life pension to someone who served as Speaker or Deputy Speaker for a few years? The said bill provides for medical trips every year and brand new vehicles to be bought by the State Government every four years for the former Speaker and Deputy Speaker. The bill also states that the pension of a former Speaker and Deputy Speaker shall be equal to the emoluments of a serving Speaker and Deputy Speaker. This is clearly a plot by the lawmakers to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor masses. This is a disservice to the people especially at a time when the internally generated revenue of the State is low and the price of crude oil is not encouraging.

A pension is supposed to be a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee’s employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person’s retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension is a defined plan where a fixed sum of money is paid to the pensioner.  Did the Speaker and Deputy Speaker make financial contributions to the purse where these pensions of theirs will be sourced from? What is the cost of these medical trips and new vehicles? Is there a possibility that this pension for the Speaker and Deputy may become a financial burden to the State Government? Is it best practice to pay pension to state legislators? These posers and many more raised by well-meaning Nigerians should be considered by States when making critical decisions on whether to pay pensions to state legislators or not. State Governors are advised to show courage and toe the line of their Bayelsa State counterpart who recently rejected a similar bill passed by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly.

Some Nigerians are of the opinion that the Kano State Governor signing the bill is a payback for the lawmakers over the speedy attention they gave to the bill that created four new emirates in Kano and their unwillingness to investigate the alleged bribery videos against the Governor. The proponents of this argument have indirectly admitted that the bill is not about the ordinary citizen in Kano, but about the legislators. The Pension Rights of Speaker and Deputy Law 2019 has served as an opportunity for the Kano State Governor to show whether his unalloyed loyalty lies with the people of Kano State or with the legislators. It is very shameful that this piece of legislation has pitched the legislators in Kano against the ordinary citizens of Kano whom the legislators are ideally supposed to be representing. Rather than passing self-serving laws, the legislators should be passing laws that will reduce the number of out-of-school children and the maternal and infant mortality in Kano. Nigerians notes that this trend of legislators making self-serving laws that enrich themselves is becoming worrisome. It has reared its ugly head in Bayelsa and Kano, and there is rumor that the Ekiti State House of Assembly is preparing a similar bill. Nigerians must rise up and resist this new trend otherwise all the 36 states of the federation will copy it. We therefore call on state governors not to give assent to this new trend.

Martins Eke, Abuja.