Africa-Press Nigeria
The Governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has proposed to end the payment of pensions and other entitlements to former governors of the state and their deputies, but the move has not received the backing of other state governors in the country.
Sanwo-Olu spoke on the move on Tuesday while presenting the 2021 budget estimates to the state House of Assembly for approval.
The abolition of pensions will affect former governors Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, as well as their deputies.
The governor said the move was to keep the cost of governance low and to signal selflessness in public service.
He said, “Mr Speaker and honourable members of the House, in the light of keeping the cost of governance low and to signal selflessness in public service, we will be sending a draft executive bill to the House imminently for the repeal of the Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law, 2007, which provides for the payment of pensions and other entitlements to former governors and their deputies.
“It is our firm belief that with dwindling revenues and the appurtenant inflationary growth rates, that we need to come up with innovative ways of keeping the cost of governance at a minimum, while engendering a spirit of selflessness in public service.”
The Public Office Holder (Payment of Pension) Law No. 11 official Gazette of Lagos State, 2007 states that former governors of the state are entitled to a house each in any location of their choice in Lagos and Abuja.
Section 2 states, “One residential house each for the governor and the deputy governor at any location of their choice in Lagos State and one residential house in the Federal Capital Territory for the governor on two consecutive terms.”
The state government built houses for former governors of the state in Lagos and Abuja in line with the law.
A former governor is also entitled to six new cars every three years, 100 per cent of the basic salary of the serving governor (N7.7m per annum) as well as free health care for himself and members of his family.
The law also states that former governors will be entitled to furniture allowance, which is 300 per cent of their annual basic salary (N23.3m); house maintenance allowance, which is 10 per cent of basic salary (N778,296); utility allowance, which is 20 per cent of the salary (N1.5m); and car maintenance allowance, which is 30 per cent of the annual basic salary (N2.3m).
Other benefits include entertainment allowance, which is 10 per cent of the basic salary (N778,296); and a personal assistant, who will earn 25 per cent of the governor’s annual basic salary (N1.9m).
The law adds that a former governor is entitled to domestic workers comprising a cook, a steward, a gardener and others, whose appointments are pensionable.
A former governor is also entitled to eight policemen and two operatives of the Department of State Services for life, according to the Lagos law.
SERAP hails Sanwo-Olu’s move
Advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, has described as a welcome development the move by Sanwo-Olu to scrap the state’s law, which places all former governors and deputy governors of the state on pensions for life.
Reacting to the development, SERAP, which has been having a running legal battle with governors of the 36 states of the federation over pension laws for their predecessors, said the news from Lagos was cheering.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oludare, said, “This is a welcome development in line with our consistent advocacy for accountability in governance over the years. More particularly, this is in compliance with the judgment of Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo of the Federal High Court, Lagos, in SERAP vs. Attorney-General of the Federation, mandating the Attorney-General of the Federation to challenge the legality of state pension laws and recover monies paid unlawfully to former governors and their deputies.”
