Abia State has pointed to the right direction on the contentious issue of pensions for governors and their deputies. In a brave step, the house of assembly repealed the governors’ pension law. Governor Alex Otti argued that it would reduce the cost of governance and that Abia pensioners had not been paid since 2014. Out of the rot among Nigeria’s political class, Otti and the Abia HoA have demonstrated rectitude.
Entitled, ‘Abia State Governors and Deputy Governors Pensions (Repeal) Law, 2024,’ the law was obscene. Apart from giving ex-governors/deputies the 100 per cent salary of the incumbents, it also contained three police and two Department of State Services officers to the former office holders for life. Their domestic staff are paid for by the state and mansions built for them at home and in Abuja.
In one state, a former governor is entitled to N100 million annually for medicals. In another, six cars for the former governor are to be changed every three years. Annual furniture, health, eight police officers for life and domestic staff allowances are part of the package.
Apart from Zamfara, which abrogated the law in 2019, about 18 states still operate pensions schemes for former governors/deputies. This is political hedonism. In 2020, Lagos and Kwara states expressed their intention to scrap their pensions laws. Kwara abrogated the law in January 2021; in Lagos, the assembly slashed the benefits by 50 per cent in August 2021.
For people who enjoyed the best of everything in office, the pension scheme is outrageous. It is a massive burden on public finances, especially as the states would record more ex-office holders after every tenure.
The truth is that most states cannot afford such luxuries amidst the horrendous poverty levels. In 2018, the World Poverty Clock listed Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world with 86.7 million persons living in extreme poverty. In 2022, the NBS counted 133 million Nigerians as multidimensionally poor.
As of December 2022, the debt profile of the states was N3.03 trillion, according to a May 2023 report in The PUNCH. They owe workers’ salaries but disburse generous severance pay and gratuities to the governors/deputies.
The Economic Confidential says that only seven states can survive without the monthly federal allocations. It means the political class is robbing Peter to pay Paul, this time the poor for the greedy.
It is a brazen heist. Except former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who aptly captures this as “daylight robbery,” the political class is understandably quiet on it. Its silence is diabolical: This kind of repealed law rewarded indolence and elevated a moneyed-class into permanent affluence at the expense of the suffering masses.
The concerned politicians were in office for a maximum of eight years. Some go on to become ministers or senators, where the life of unjustified opulence continues. The 10th National Assembly contains more than 12 formers governors. In contrast, most public workers serve for 35 years, and are paid pittance as pensions or not at all. Many pensioners die without receiving their dues.
The states should learn from Abia, or from elsewhere. In California, a governor’s pension is calculated based on the years of service but not more than 60 per cent no matter the length of service. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former governor there, does not collect pensions because he waived his salary while in office. In Connecticut, a former governor does not receive pensions ($5,000 per annum) if he is holding any other salaried employment.
For democracy to be meaningful, civil society organisations, pressure groups, taxpayers and activists should engage their respective legislators to demand the repeal of these scandalous pension laws. They should put the assemblies and governors on their toes to do it right.
