Debo Adejugbe: Governors’ pension bills – The new faces of progressive looting (Y! Politico)

by Debo Adejugbe

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The Lagos Pension Bill wriggled its way into the official gazette on 18th May, 2007; a mere 11 days before Bola Tinubu handed over the affairs of the state to Babatunde Fashola.

A cursory glance at the ‘Pension Bills’ for some ex state Governors and Deputies, notably Zamfara, Gombe, Lagos and Kwara, gives the idea that all is not – and never going to be – well with Nigeria. By extension, you get that ominous feeling that Nigerians are going to continue lamenting without any real value achieved despite the vast array of resources that dots the nation.

It is pertinent to examine some of the provisions of these bills amidst the dust generated by the Akpabio bill that was adjusted in Akwa Ibom state. My interest in these so called Pension Bills is not basically hinged on the abject poverty pervading the whole country or, taking the states involved into reckoning, the huge noticeable difference between the affluence displayed by these governors and the squalor that majority of those they govern live in. Add that to the masqueraded front that some of these governors put up as progressives, you have to ask basic questions that appeals to their sense of humanity and morality.

Let me be clear: I see everything wrong in someone who, in the course of service, might only serve a term of 4 years to be ridiculously remunerated after serving that term where he enjoys absolute cover on everything by the state. Whatever form of acceptable pension scheme that is predicated on what is obtainable in the Civil Service of the states involved should not even suffice in this case. I feel the provisions of all the Bills I have seen are outrageous and lack any semblance of reasonability.

Take for example the Lagos Pension Bill that expects an ex-Governor and Deputy to be provided:

  1. Annual basic salary of the incumbent Governor and Deputy.
  2. Accommodation in Lagos and Abuja.
  3. 3 cars, 1 pilot and 2 backup cars for Gov; 2 cars, 1 pilot and 1 backup cars for Deputy, every three years.
  4. Furniture allowance at 300% of annual basic salary of present Governor payable every two years enbloc.
  5. House maintenance at 10% of annual basic salary.
  6. Domestic staff: Cook, Steward, Gardner and others.
  7. Car maintenance at 30%, P.A at 25%, Entertainment at 10% and utility at 20% all percentages on annual basic salary of incumbent.
  8. Free medical services for them and members of their immediate families.
  9. Security (Two SSS details and a female officer, Eight policemen for Gov)

When you look at the Bills for Gombe, Kwara and Zamfara, they are all as outrageous as this one while for Rivers state, the Governor and Deputy are entitled to Pension for life on the basis of the annual salary of the incumbent Governor and Deputy. It doesn’t end there though.

That cursory glance I mentioned in the first paragraph throws up another interesting fact, for those whose glances are very specific and thorough, which is the date that some of these bills were enacted and signed into law by the states concerned. Lagos, Zamfara and Kwara are of specific interest here.

The Lagos Pension Bill wriggled its way into the official gazette on 18th May, 2007; a mere 11 days before Bola Tinubu handed over the affairs of the state to Babatunde Fashola. In Zamfara’s case, Ahmed Sani assented to the bill on 30th June, 2006; barely a year before leaving office for the Senate while Governor Bukola Saraki assented to his in December 2010 and it officially got into the government’s gazette on August 11, 2011 while he was already a Senator.

I understand what you are thinking: some of these governors went on to become Senators and thereby continued enjoying the unholy and coven-protected allowances of the National Assembly but continued drawing pension as ex-Governors in their states. This is where the line becomes extremely blurry; where we have to focus our perception on what exactly is happening: progressive embezzlement! The type that the EFCC cannot investigate or hound them for. Rather than steal the money and get hounded, they lessen the perception on stealing and we get on with our lives.

If an individual who serves for 4 years can be this ridiculously compensated; why don’t we have same level of cover for civil servants who spent their productive years serving the state? Are they not entitled to cars, houses, security, medicals and the other benefits solely on the length and outstanding nature of the work they put in? If not, why must a state continue paying for the executive lifestyle an ex-governor decides to live after concluding his term(s)?

Why would someone who governed in Lagos request for a house in Abuja, bearing in mind that the state owes him nothing, including a house in Lagos? It is outrageous that our political class rides on the unwillingness of the people to scrutinize whatever they do, to loot the treasury dry. Rather than cooling their heels in jail, they continue feeding fat on the state’s treasury and this has a more ominous ring to our elections. If as a governor, you can loot with little or no control and as an ex-governor you still have unfettered access to state’s fund in the form of bogus pension bills, you definitely would do anything to get to that position.

In Nigeria, we are hugely euphemistic. Rather than call a situation for what it is, we elevate its status by coining a more acceptable name – depending on who is involved. Be informed, it doesn’t matter if the APC, PDP or any of the other parties are involved, stealing has no other name, it is still stealing.

While the few states I mentioned are the ones I have had the opportunity of seeing their Bills, I believe most states have pension laws for ex officials as ridiculous as the ones we have reviewed and it is time that Nigerians rise up in unison to condemn this brand of progressive looting of our resources where we continue serving a governor/deputy and their immediate families decades after they have relinquished their hold on power – irrespective of whether they have taken up another job that draws salary and allowances from our commonwealth.

It just doesn’t sound or feel right.

You can download the bills for Lagos, Gombe, Zamfara, Kwara and Rivers here.

 

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Debo Adejugbe is a trained Telecommunications/Electronics Engineer and a certified IT professional living in Lagos. Dad to amazing Hailey and an advocate against Sexual and Domestic Abuses. Debo has political sympathy for the Labour Party. He tweets from @deboadejugbe

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

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