The minister of works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, says he is “morally conflicted” with the legislation by some states’ Houses of Assembly which gives pension allowance to people who have served as governors or deputy governors in those states.
Fashola, a two-term governor of Lagos State between 2007 and 2015, recalled that when such legislation was made by the Lagos legislature, he declined to benefit from the ‘compensation’.
The minister, who expressed his views at a media programme—Hard Copy: Real Conversation with Babatunde Fashola—hosted by Channel’s Television in Abuja, noted that there was public expression of concerns about that legislation passed at the state level.
“When this came up at our State Executive Council meeting, I made it clear that if this is a privilege conferred on me, I have the right to refuse and I refused and insisted that the cabinet meeting should record my refusal to partake,” he recalled further.
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Fashola, who was reacting to the intension of Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to stop the payment of pension to ex-governors and deputies in the state for reasons of dwindling state revenue, said, “I have gone back to my house in Surulere and I have not collected any emolument; no house was built or bought for me anywhere.”
The minister believes that the real privilege and honour for people in government is the opportunity to serve. But his legal training and disposition could not be caged when he argued that “if the elected representatives of the people in that state pass such legislation, then it becomes law in which case, he said, paying and collecting the pension is not immoral, but legal.
This, perhaps, explains why, according to the minister, he has been receiving N350,000 monthly from the state government in addition to his N900,000 salary as minister of the federal republic.
Amid rising poverty, youth unemployment, inability of most states to pay N30,000 minimum wage, poor roads infrastructure, underdevelopment of rural areas, many states have continued to pamper and enrich ex-governors, an act that Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) as well as many Nigerians has condemned without reservations.
Besides Lagos, 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 also have such legislations in place.
In Lagos, the pension legislation was passed during the tenure of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as governor. The state was the first to implement the pension law which was signed in 2007.
A breakdown of the legislation titled ‘Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No 11 Official Gazette of 2007, shows that former governors in Lagos are entitled to a house each in preferred locations in Lagos and Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The law provides for six new cars every three years, 100 percent of the basic salary of the incumbent governor (N7.7million per annum), and free health care for the beneficiary and family members.
Former governors are also entitled to furniture allowance, 300 percent of annual basic salary (N23.3million); house maintenance allowance, 10 percent of annual basic salary (N778,296); utility allowance, 20 percent of annual basic salary (N1.5million), and car maintenance allowance,30 percent of the annual basic salary (N2.3million).
There is also an entertainment allowance which is 10 percent of the annual basic salary (N778,296); and a personal assistant who will earn 25 percent of the governor’s annual basic salary (N1.9million).
