LAGOS — President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), is
to lead a campaign to repeal the pension laws for governors enacted by
many states of the federation, Vanguard has learnt.
The proposal
by the incoming president is based on what sources close to him affirm
as the incongruity of the laws under the country’s socio-economic
environment and also, as a way of demonstrating moral leadership from
the top.
Majority of the nation’s 36 state Houses of Assembly
have enacted generous pension entitlements for governors that in many
cases provide 100 per cent pay for the incumbent governors buildings,
generous medical allowances for them and their family members and annual
holiday provisions, all of which are to last for life. Provisions in
the pension allowances are also made for staff, security and vehicles
that are renewable every three or four years.Buhari-Nigeria
Buhari’s
inclination towards a review of the pension for former governors was
first publicly declared few days to the presidential election at the All
Progressives Congress, APC, retreat in Owerri, Imo State.
It’s scandalous
A
source conversant with the development disclosed that Buhari told the
governors that there was no way Nigeria could survive under the
financial weight of the pensions that had been earmarked for governors.
He was said to have described the pension laws as enacted by states
controlled by APC and PDP governors as scandalous.
According to
the source, “he was very blunt about it and said that it was something
that was going to be done immediately, especially because it is not
something that can be sustained.
“The feeling was that not only
was it wrong and morally unconscionable, but that it was not something
that should be encouraged, and he was appealing to them that it should
be changed.”
However, the response of the governors, who were present at the retreat, was not immediately given.
It’s a welcome proposal —Keyamo
The
development was, yesterday, welcomed by leading Lagos lawyer, Festus
Keyamo, who described it as a fantastic proposal but disclosed that it
was something that could, however, only be accomplished through moral
suasion.
“Fantastic, fantastic. It is a very welcome proposal,”
the Lagos lawyer, who backed General Buhari against President Goodluck
Jonathan in last month’s presidential election said.
He, however,
said the proposal was something that Buhari could only effect through
moral suasion as the pension acts were enacted by state Houses of
Assembly.
The crave for financial safety out of office was
recently also extended to the legislature after the Lagos State House of
Assembly passed pension laws to guarantee generous pension entitlements
with proposals for former presiding officers of the house.
Source
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