Assembly’s 50% slash of emoluments hypocritical – Activists
We’re not rubber stamp lawmakers – Assembly
No comment until I receive the bill – Sanwo-Olu
BY MAYOWA SAMUEL
The resolution of the Lagos State House of Assembly to reduce the pensions of former governors of the state by 50 per cent, a departure from what Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recommended on November 9, 2020, while presenting the 2021 budget to the House, may lead to a clash between the Executive and Legislative arms of government in the state, findings by The Point have revealed.
The governor had, at the event, promised to send a draft executive bill for the repeal of the law, which provided for payment of pensions and other entitlements to former governors and their deputies.
He said that the state was going to stop the package, which many analysts had described as reckless and insensitive.
However, the House said on Thursday that it had decided to slash the pensions after the adoption of a report by the House Committee on Establishment.
According to the lawmakers, the report recommended the reduction of pensions for former governors and other affected officials by 50 per cent.
Under the new package, the ex-governors will now receive three new cars, to be changed every four years, and huge financial supports.
It is uncertain if the governor will append his signature to the new bill, a development that may lead to a rift between the two arms of government.
DECISION HYPOCRITICAL, SELFISH
Politicians, anti-graft bodies and rights groups who reacted furiously to the development, reprimanded the lawmakers for the decision, saying it was a breach of the earlier public commitment and original bill submitted to the Assembly by Governor Sanwo-Olu.
Chairman, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, Olanrewaju Suraju, urged the governor to immediately withhold his assent to the new bill by the House.
Suraju said in a statement at the weekend, that the reduction to 50 per cent betrayed the earlier public commitment of the state governor to abolish the practice and fell short of the remarkable revocation of similar laws by Kwara and Zamfara states.
“We are shocked by the hypocritical and selfish decision of the State House of Assembly to reduce the package for the former state governors rather than approving the proposal as sent by the state’s Executive. The truth of the matter is that, having served the state for between four and eight years, with their salaries and emoluments paid apart from a string of perks and privileges, including unquestionable security votes, it is ridiculous that the public will continue to shoulder their personal needs after they have left the office,” Suraju said.
The HEDA boss said the former governors were not career workers like civil servants who often put up to 35 years into public service.
He said the 50 per cent slash failed to address the fundamental issue, which was that the former governors did not deserve to live on public funds, after they had left, to continue their mostly profit-driven private businesses.
“The decision of the Lagos State House of Assembly is unilateral and even amounts to crying more than the bereaved. There were no consultations with the public. The elected members did not hold any discussion with the electorate. There was a kangaroo public hearing on the floor of the house. This is not a popular decision but a step taken to please their political godfathers,” Suraju lamented.
He argued further that payment to former governors was a decision that had to be taken in consultation with the taxpayers and not an imposition by 40 members of the State House of Assembly.
“The country is facing declining economic glory. Hunger and starvation are ravaging the land. It is ridiculous that what the elected officials are thinking of is the special economic protection for former governors,” he stressed.
He said the attitude of the lawmakers was like pouring water in an ocean, adding that the ex-governors were already more than comfortable and did not need pampering at public expense.
Suraju urged the Lagos State Government to concentrate on providing stimulus packages that could create more jobs and address the growing youth unemployment in the state, which was threatening the livelihood of millions of people.
LAW SHOULD BE REPEALED, PDP INSISTS
On its part, the Peoples Democratic Party said the decision of the parliamentarians was not the actual expectation of the people.
While speaking with The Point, Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State Chapter of the PDP, Taofik Gani, suggested that instead of the reduction of the former governors’ pension, a one-off pay to them would be fair.
“For the sake of clarity, let it not appear that the PDP is being unnecessarily critical about this. The former governors and their deputies can have a one-off pay; we can support that. But for somebody who has been governor for eight years to continue to have this emolument every two, three, four years, is unfair to the masses,” he said.
He added, “Such a person should not be collecting pension because pension is supposed to be a final resting enjoyment. Once you claim to be collecting that and you are still working, it means you are still active. It will be like paying a man twice from the same purse, and any man who is doing that should know that it is immoral.
“I will not use criminal because it is not law yet. For the governors who have served in Lagos, I make bold to say that they are even supposed to be giving to the state.”
The spokesman insisted that Lagosians who had been yearning for better services, development and infrastructure, were expecting that the House should perhaps, for this period, rubberstamp the intentions of the governor that such benefits should be scrapped.
He said, “We are not against emoluments for former servicemen, not necessarily the governors. The area, which has been very infuriating, is where former governors get more than a sitting governor, after serving, some for eight years, when they had realised enough.
“Nobody is probing them, they have all the assets stashed around the world, in some cases, but still must get those benefits. That’s why we supported, 100 per cent, Governor Sanwo-Olu’s suggestion that those benefits be scrapped.
“There should also be security for every man after service, so they don’t grow to become beggars. This is why, most times, you see service men, civil servants and public servants stealing in service. So, we would not want to condemn this reduction, we would rather suggest that the reduction be looked into further, so that we have a semblance of a situation where pension deduction itself is not also to further enrich those who have served. It is just for them to have that security after service.
“You cannot live in more than one house, you cannot drive more than one car; an average person will drive a car for a minimum of 10 years, so why will they now be spending lavishly as if the state has more than that?”
“Lagosians are saying that if the state can indeed cater for such burdens, then they should also give to ordinary Lagosians who pay their tax good roads, potable water, adequate security, free education and the rest. I’m sure if all these things are in place, no ordinary Lagosian will even be interested in asking what a former governor is collecting. The problem we have been having in the state is that it appears that the state is not giving to the ordinary people, but giving to only people who are chieftains of the APC,” Gani noted.
‘WE’RE NOT RUBBERSTAMP LAWMAKERS’
While defending the position of the Assembly, David Setonji, House Committee Chairman on Information, Strategy and Security, told The Point that the House did not defy the governor’s recommendation, which is his right, but only did what was in the best interest of the state.
He said, “When bills are sent to the House, it is not compulsory for us to accept everything that the Government has sent. We are elected to look at the pros and cons of whatever bill the Executive arm of government has sent to the House. We will look at it and decide on what is best for the state. So, practically, we removed the costly aspect of that bill, which has to do with houses for the past governors and we slashed their emoluments too.
“It was discussed at plenary and we decided that, in the best interest of the state, this is what is right for us and this is how it will go.”
Setonji added that the outcome of this review would ensure that the state made enough savings, adding, “Just as Lagos is dynamic, law is also dynamic.”
He is certain that former Lagos governors and deputies “will be happy with it because that is what the people want.”
“They were governors of the state and they served the people, and based on the yearnings of the people, things have changed. So, I can assure you that they will accept what has happened in good faith,” the lawmaker argued.
Lagos became the first state in Nigeria to implement the pension law, when in 2007, Tinubu, who eventually became the first beneficiary of the law, signed it into law just at the twilight of his second tenure in office.
Section 2 of the law, known as The Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11, Official Gazette of 2007, provides for “one residential house each for the governor and the deputy governor at any location of their choice in Lagos State and one residential house in the Federal Capital Territory for the governor on two consecutive terms.”
The law also made the beneficiaries entitled to six new cars every three years, 100 per cent of the basic salary of a sitting governor (about N7.7 million per annum), free health care for him and his family members, eight policemen and two operatives of the Department of State Services, attached to each of them for life.
The beneficiaries will also enjoy several allowances such as: house maintenance allowance – 10 per cent of annual basic salary (N778,296); furniture allowance – 300 per cent of annual basic salary (N23.3million); car maintenance allowance – 30 per cent of the annual basic salary (N2.3million); and utility allowance – 20 per cent of annual basic salary (N1.5million).
At the time, the law was geared towards sustaining the extravagant lifestyle of the former governors and their deputies, with huge monthly salaries, exotic and expensive vehicles, paid vacations, medical insurance, among others, provided for them.
Other states such as Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Imo, Niger, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Yobe, and Zamfara, are among not less than 24 states in the country that have adopted the controversial pension law.
NO COMMENT UNTIL I RECEIVE THE BILL – SANWO-OLU
Governor Sanwo-Olu has, however, said that he has yet to receive the bill from the lawmakers.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Lagos State, Gbenga Omotosho, who spoke to our correspondent, on behalf of the Governor, said it would be difficult to pre-empt the reaction of the Governor since the bill had yet to be sent to him for his signature.
“The lawmakers have not sent their decision to the governor, so no one can preempt or second-guess what would happen. It has not been sent to him,” he told The Point on Sunday.
