The call by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Sebastine Hon, for the withdrawal of pension provisions for political office holders at all levels on the grounds that it was immoral for people, who begged to be elected to serve, to turn around to constitute liability to the state by drawing pension is a welcome development. Although the lawyer was merely re-echoing the advocacy by a spectrum of Nigerians which includes the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), the time to repeal the law is even more auspicious now than ever.
Hon spoke in Abuja last week while announcing plans for the public presentation, in Abuja on July 12, of his new 1,300-page book, ‘S.T. Hon’s Constitutional and Migration Law in Nigeria’, which discussed, among others, over 4,000 decisions of both Nigerian and foreign courts.
He also faulted the restriction of immunity to leaders of the executive arm of government, and argued that the nation should either abolish the concept of immunity or extend it to the other arms of government.
In the same vein, the NLC has reiterated opposition to the proposed life pension for public office holders. NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who urged the Senate to outlaw the criminal pensions for ex-governors and any other undeserving retirees through an amendment of the constitution, argued that the “height of this infamy and greed was when exiting governors literally coerced or seduced state houses of assembly into writing into “Law” their severance packages which consume a sizeable percentage of the state’s budget.
“We at the Congress believe that politics is about service-delivery and not robbery. Senators should, therefore, get their priorities right, whip themselves into line and perform the tasks for which they are elected. These tasks as defined by the constitution are law-making, over-sight and investigation.
“There are issues in the constitution begging for attention such as devolution of power, autonomy for local governments, etc. These are amendments that will not only bring government closer to the people but will also unleash the potentials of local government councils.
“Similarly, Nigerians have consistently expressed their desire to have it removed from the constitution the absolute immunity clause for president, governors and their deputies. Rather than heed their demand, senators are more interested in feathering their nests or how they can over-shine the executive and their judiciary in perks and perquisites.
“In their blind quest, they completely forgot that for any member of the judiciary to qualify for life pension, he or she must have spent a minimum of 35 years in service. Finally, the Senate is advised to be focused instead of indulging in self-serving frivolities. Anything to the contrary will draw the wrath of the people.”
The NLC helmsman, however, applauded the hard stance of some “discerning members” including Senators Ali Ndume (Majority Leader), Godswill Akpabio (Minority Leader) and Oluremi Tinubu to the proposed amendment on the grounds that “excessive privileges for Senate president and House Speaker and their deputies are neither desirable nor necessary. Senate President/House Speaker are elected by members of the National Assembly and not the electorate, unlike president and governors and their deputies;
“The privileges already enjoyed by the leadership of the two chambers are enormous; unlike the leadership of the executive, the leadership of the legislature has no tenure limitation. We at the Nigeria Labour Congress would want to go on record as having opposed the idea of putting the president of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies on life pension,” Wabba stressed.
Blueprint is in sync with NLC’s clamour to jettison the proposed pension for the Senate president, House Speaker and their deputies as well the repeal of the various obnoxious state laws on pension for governors and their deputies. This deplorable state of affairs is more nauseating when juxtaposed with the situation where state governments splash billions of naira in pension payments to their former governors who are also drawing salaries from public purse as serving senators and ministers.
We, therefore, join the call that pension provisions for political office holders at all levels be immediately expunged. It smacks of moral bankruptcy for state that are unable to pay salaries despite collecting N662bn bailout funds from the federal government last year, to indulge in pecuniary recklessness under the guise of pension for political office holders.
