Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday urged former governors and their deputies drawing both pension and salary to refund such money.
The congress argued that it was illegal and immoral to collect double pay from the public coffer.
In a statement by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the congress said state laws legalising such acts should be repealed.
The NLC asked the Federal Government to act in the spirit of its fight against corruption by not only ensuring these ill-gotten payments were refunded, it should ensure that no governor ever create for themselves such criminal advantages.
The statement, entitled: “No double salary for any public officer”, reads: “We are saddened by revelations that not less than 21 governors and deputy governors are senators or ministers and drawing billions of naira in pension payment and salaries (at the same time) while millions of wage earners go without salaries for months on end.
“Our revulsion stems from the fact that most, if not all of these ex-governors, coerced or seduced their Houses of Assembly into approving for them these bogus and illegitimate pension rates and property (as cars and houses) in contravention of the extant laws and regulations by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission.
“Similarly, they are mindlessly drawing these allowances (that they do not need) from our commonwealth when the states are in serious financial difficulty and poverty is rife in the land. They get paid regularly whether the state can afford it nor not.”
be made to refund what they have taken.
“We demand that all citizens be treated equally in furtherance of their fundamental rights.
“We also demand that the Federal Government in the spirit of its fight against corruption not only ensure these ill-gotten payments are refunded forthwith, it should ensure no governor ever create for themselves such criminal advantages. Nobody is above the law.
“We have no doubt that these illegal “severance” payments running into billions of Naira, if released into the system, will significantly uplift the quality of the life of the citizenry,” it said.