The 2014 Akwa Ibom state Governor and Deputy Governor Pension Law, aimed at making life more comfortable for former governors and their deputies of the state, has elicited justified criticisms from all and sundry. The law entitles each former governor and his spouse a medical allowance not exceeding N100 million, a five-bedroom maisonette in Abuja or Uyo and furniture allowances of 300 per cent of his annual basic salaries every four years.
A former governor will also be entitled to a new car and a utility vehicle every four years, with the state bearing the cost of fuelling at 300 per cent of his basic salary. He will collect N5 million as salaries of his domestic staff and entertainment allowance of 100 per cent of his basic salary will also come from the state government.
He is to receive a severance allowance of 300 per cent of annual salary as at the time he leaves office as governor. In the end, the state must bear the full cost of his burial expenses and pay condolence equivalent to the amount of basic salary of the incumbent governor. A former deputy governor will enjoy several benefits, including salaries for life, N50 million as medical allowances for self and spouse and N2 million for the maintenance of domestic staff. The law provides for a yearly accommodation allowance of 300 per cent of annual basic salary for a deputy governor. He will enjoy some of the perks like the governor.
The executive bill took the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly 24 hours to pass into law, an oddity in a democratic environment anywhere in the world. The speaker of the Assembly said the bill was passed to enable the governors and deputies to “stay focused” while in office. The hole-and-corner manner the bill was passed, 24 hours after, confirms speculations that the legislators were influenced by Governor Godswill Akpabio.
It is morally wrong for a sitting governor to unilaterally propose a bill to benefit himself and his spouse and prompt the Assembly to pass it into law. The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has failed the people; it has allowed itself to be used by the governor. This action of the legislature has confirmed insinuations that state houses of assembly are rubber stamps of the almighty governors whose authoritarian acts are great handicaps to the current democratic practice in the country.
Many governors have initiated similar bills and have them passed by their state houses of assembly. Akwa Ibom seems to have overtaken all of them. Akwa Ibom government failed to realise that, in spite of the billions of naira it collects from the federation account, the local government allocation and the internally generated revenue, the ordinary citizen of the state is yet to feel the impact of its wealth. Teachers and other retirees of the state civil service have been crying for the payment of their gratuity since 2009 to no avail. If Akpabio is so humane and knows the value of luxury, why has he not settled these people?
We join other patriotic Nigerians to urge the Akwa State House of Assembly to repeal the law, submit it to due process so that Akwa Ibom people will be able to make contribution into how much of the money should be expended on former political office holders in their state. We advise Governor Akpabio not to sign the bill into law, since doing so will amount to a fundamental breach of his constitutional oath declaration to serve the interest of accountability, justice, transparency and common good.
