…As Obasanjo, Apugo laud gov for repealing law
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, has said his administration would use money saved from cancellation of the pension of former governors and their deputies to pay pensioners in the state.
Otti made this known while assenting to the Abia State of Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Law of 2024 passed by the Abia State House of Assembly, recently.
Pleased by this development, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and All Progressives Congress Board of Trustees (BOT) and national caucus member Prince Benjamin Apugo have lauded Governor Alex Otti of Abia State for his courage in repealing the law.
The governor said it was his belief from the onset that government was not going to continue with the practice of paying pension to former governors and deputy governors in the state as the money would have been better used in paying off the backlog of pension owed retired workers since 2014.
“I want to make a few things clear: one, that even before we came on-board a lot of people who had followed our views understand that we were not going to continue with the practice of paying pensions and allowances to this set of former government officials. A lot of people had confronted me to remind me that very soon I will also be a former governor and I agree completely,” the Otti said.
He thanked the State House of Assembly for expeditiously passing the Bill and assured the legislature of the maximum support of his administration.
Pointing out that governance is not about self interest, the governor said he believes that repealing the pensions for former governors and deputy governors was the right step to take as it is all about good governance and stewardship.
His words: “So it’s all about good governance and stewardship to our people and I strongly believe that any leader who believes that leadership is a business has lost his way. As far as I am concerned, leadership is stewardship and if you now want to take up all the resources that belong to the people you are leading, I’m not sure that is morally correct.
“Government is not about self-interest and it’s actually self-interest that destroys government and if you accuse me of belonging to a class I would readily admit but add that I have happily committed class suicide, because I would have benefitted if this law had continued.
“But we all know that it’s not the best for the country, for this state and for the workers who were hitherto owed for months. For pensioners who we are still struggling to defray several months and years of arrears from 2014, it’s more appropriate for us to use the funds that would have been used to pay former elected political office holders, to pay the workers.”
Presenting the bill for the governor’s assent earlier, the Speaker, Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Emereuwa, who was represented by the Deputy Speaker, Hon. Austin Meregini, said the Bill repealed Law No. 4 of 2001 which empowered the state government to pension to former governors and their deputies.
Commenting on the repealed law, the former President Obasanjo who paid a visit to Governor Otti noted that pensions paid to the former governors and deputies were outrageous while those of ordinary retired workers were owed in Abia from 2014, describing the act as daylight robbery.
He said: “I watched the television and I saw repealing of Abia pensions and I asked you what exactly is this, and you said to me that the pensions scheme for former governors here was too outrageous.
“It’s like trouble because it allowed them to have a house in Abuja and elsewhere, and it allowed them to cart away with whatever they can, yet the pensions of ordinary people from 2014 are unpaid.
“What sort of leadership! You came and said there will be an end to that rascality. I congratulate you, and I say to you, I hope that your colleagues will follow your footstep.”
On his part, Prince Apugo commended Governor Otti and members of the State House of Assembly for the repeal of the Law.
The Bill known as H.A.B 11: Bill to Revoke the Abia State Governors and Deputy Governors Pensions Law No 4 of 2001 and for Other Matters Connected Therewith, was passed into law on Tuesday.
Apugo queried what the beneficiaries of the former law did for the state that would warrant them to be paid pension for life.
He said it was annoying that a governor who had total control of the finances of the state for eight years and did whatever he liked with it, without anybody questioning him, would turn around to be paid pension for life.
The APC chieftain said it was more annoying that civil servants and other public servants who were statutorily entitled for pension, were denied it, only for ex-governors and their deputies to be paid bogus amounts as pension.
His words: “Ex-governors and their deputies do not deserve to be paid any pension. The people who enacted the Law in the first place did not love the state.
“It is quite unfortunate that monies meant for the pensions of those who genuinely deserve them were used to pay those who never merited or deserved it.”
He said it was only a governor with the pedigree of Otti, who would push for the repeal of such Law.
Apugo said Abians are solidly behind Otti and members of the State House of Assembly in this wise.
While commending the governor for promptly signing the bill into law, Apugo called on him to ensure that monies paid to any former governor in this regard, be refunded to the state.