Imo State voted for progressive politics on Friday 22 May with the passage into an Act of the Bill repealing pension allowances and gratuities for former governors, deputy governors, speakers, and deputy speakers.
In giving assent to the Bill from the Imo State House of Assembly, Governor Hope Uzodinma remarked on how the previous law contravened the 1999 constitution and lacked prudence. We commend the courage and wisdom of the Imo State Executive and Legislature working together for a good cause.
The Imo State Governors Pension and Privileges (Repeal) Law No 8 of 2020 repealed Law No 5 of 2007, No 7 of 2011 and No 9 of 2017.
Imo State traversed a back-and-forth route to this position. Politicians of the Fourth Republic introduced the executive pension law in 2000. It rewarded the Governor and the Deputy Governor. In 2007, the Legislative arm wondered why the provision did not extend to them. They then added the Speaker and Deputy Speaker to the beneficiaries of executive pensions.
In 2017, power tussles between Governor Rochas Okorocha and the Speaker of the State House of Assembly could not stop another change and addition to the law. The House of Assembly included themselves and provided for payment of N100,000 monthly to anyone who had served in the Assembly.
The phenomenon of legislation that rewards former public officials with unearned remuneration in executive pensions is a sore on the conscience of the political class. Many states passed such laws actuated by the base motive of greed. They subverted the ordinary meaning of pension to continue to feed off the trough of public office. The provisions were wasteful and obscene. It also placed enormous burdens on the resources of the states.
Pensions are significant features of working life. Section 173 (1) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as amended provides that pensions of the Federal public servants shall be reviewed every five years or together with any Federal Civil Service salary reviews. The recipient must have worked for a minimum of ten years and be up to 45 years old.
Wikipedia and legal authorities assert that, “a pension is 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.” Nigerian politicians changed the nature of pensions into a benefit for their service in public office, usually for no more than eight years.
Changes in pension administration caught up with and exposed the irrationality of executive pensions. Nigeria moved with the Pension Reform into a contributory pension scheme whereby employees and their employers contribute to a pool of funds. The contributory pension scheme ensures that there are funds for each pensioner stacked up over the years of service.
The pensions awarded to former public officials are defined benefits with no contribution element. They relied on drawing from the resources of the state. With the growing number of exes this and ex that, the bill keeps growing.
Pensions are usually also paid for lifetime employment of an average of 35 years, not for political appointments of eight short years.
It would be interesting to find out from Imo State the savings they would make from the repeal of the obnoxious and greedy legislation on executive pensions. There are many other areas of waste in our various states.
We call on other states to follow the example of Imo State. Zamfara State was among the first to repeal these unwanted laws. Others have remained recalcitrant.
Lagos State ranks among those with an executive pension provision that reeks of avarice and irrationality. The provisions are such that the former executives earn more than the serving officers. Do away with these unconstitutional, irrational, and expensive executive pensions. Prudence such as the coronavirus pandemic imposes demands no less.
