The opposition, rights activists and aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State fought hard to get Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio to abandon a controversial pension law, writes WALE AJETUNMOBI
It was not a battle limited to the opposition. Even members of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially those who used to be his allies, were also involved in the battle, which eventually made Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio to abandon his “altruistic intention” of amending the state’s Executive Pension Act. The labour also spoke against it, but failed to carry out a protest aimed at getting the House of Assembly not to pass the law.
Eight of the 26 members of the Assembly were against the amendment. But their voices were not loud enough to stop the bill from becoming an Act. The House of Assembly passed into law a bill seeking a pension for life at a rate equivalent to the salary of the incumbent governor and deputy. The deputy leader of the House, Dr Ekaete Okon (PDP), moved a motion for the bill to be read the third time and passed into law. The motion was seconded by Mr Aniekan Akpan (PDP) member representing Ukanafun state constituency.
The law also provides for the former governor a provision for funds to employ a cook, chauffeurs and security guards at a sum not exceeding N5 million per month and N2.5 million for the deputy.
According to the bill as passed, the former governor would also be entitled to free medical services for his person and spouse at a sum not exceeding N100 million per annum and N50 million for former deputy governor.
The bill also seeks to provide for the former governor a befitting accommodation not below a 5- bed room maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom for the ex-governor.
It also provides for yearly accommodation allowance of 300 per cent of annual basic salary for the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom.
The former governor would also receive a severance gratuity of 300 per cent of annual basic salary as at the time the former leaves office among other things.
According to the bill: “A former governor or former deputy governor who receives a severance gratuity under the provisions of the public and political office holders (remuneration) law cap. 101, laws of Akwa
Ibom State, 2000 (as amended), shall not be eligible to obtain any other gratuity under the law.
“Where a former governor or former deputy governor dies, government shall make adequate arrangement and bear the financial responsibility for his burial. Government will also pay a condolence allowance of a sum equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent to his next of kin.
“And provide one surviving spouse with medical allowance not exceeding N12million per annum. Provided that such a spouse was married to the governor at the time he or she was in office, and if a wife, had served the state as First Lady.”
The former governor would also receive a severance gratuity of 300 per cent of annual basic salary as at the time the former leaves office among other things.
A governorship aspirant of the PDP in Akwa Ibom State, Umana Okon Umana, described the pension law signed by the state Governor, Godswill Akpabio as obscene, provocative and insensitive.
Umana stated this on Sunday at an interactive session with some Akwa Ibom stakeholders at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.
Umana said through his interaction with stakeholders in the state, the people expressed their objection to virtually all the provisions of the law, as they described the legislation as self-serving and anti-people.
He said: “It is surprising that in spite of a nationwide public outcry against the bill for the pension law, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly rushed to pass it within 11 days and the governor signed it into law with indecent haste within 24 hours without any inputs from members of the public who will foot the bill.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State described the law as criminal and fraudulent.
Speaking at a briefing in Uyo, the state capital, the APC’s State Publicity Secretary, Samuel Udobong, said the bill was not in the interest of the suffering low income earners in the state.
Udobong explained that the speed in which the bill became law had confirmed the speculations that lawmakers in the State House of Assembly were ‘bribed’ by Governor Godswill Akpabio.
He expressed worry that despite the condemnation that trailed the bill when it went public, the house members still went ahead to pass it into law.
The party: “It reveals and confirms the disconnect that exists between the government and the governed in Akwa Ibom state. While Akwab Ibomites are wallowing in hunger and deprivation, seeking simple bailouts of food shelter, clothing and job opportunities.
“The government engages in scheming to steal the commonwealth, become richer and widen the gap that exists between the rich and the poor in our society. This is dangerous and we strongly condemn it. Therefore, we call on Akwa Ibomites to continue to rise against this law and insist that it is reversed.”
The party went further: “Let us inform you that Akwa Ibom State Government is yet to pay Primary School teachers and other retirees of her civil service their gratuity, some from 2009. What is due for those folks is just pittance compare to the monthly income of the governor and the government.
“Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has not cared to address the welfare needs of these citizens who have given 35 years of their lives to the service of the state. It gives credence to our long held position that this government is naïve and insensitive. They know no shame and care very little about what Akwa Ibom people think or feel about it.”
Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State chapter, Civil Liberties Organisation, Mr. Clifford Thomas, said the law was unnecessary, considering the level of poverty among the citizenry. He said career civil servants who had served the state meritoriously were the ones who needed to be treated better and not self serving political office holders.
Thomas said: “The new law does not serve the interest of the state. It has to be reviewed. If we want to amend any law or enact another, it should be for career civil servants. We should think of those who had spent their entire lives serving the state before thinking of governors or their deputies. The governor himself does not even need the pension.”
A former Deputy Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Uwem Udoma, also described the new law as atrocious and ill-timed. He said the overwhelming majority of the people of the state would reject the law, if given the chance.
He said: “I see a lot of greed in the framing of this particular bill. You spend up to N350m on four people, that is about N1.4bn for a year; and N1.4bn a year is almost equal to some states allocation for a month. The government can do a lot with N1.4bn. If you are paying four people N1.4bn a year and the population of Akwa Ibom is just 3.9m people, how then are you going to protect the interest of other citizens? How are you going to take care of the people if only four people would take N1.4bn? The amended bill is outrageous. It is not nice at all. The exclusivity clause in pension is not acceptable. If it is the pension law, it should be enjoyed by everybody, but this present amendment of the 2006 pension law that has been passed into law in 2014 has excluded so many people.
“In fact, we are wasting a lot of funds that we should use to invest in agriculture, which we should use in establishing industries that the government promised, at least, one in each of the 31 local government areas of the state. The government is not doing anything about that.
“If you go the Internet now, you can get the bill for yourself. That of Akwa Ibom State is almost 300 per cent higher than any other states in the country. I can say that as a former lawmaker. It is higher, it is outrageous; we do not accept it, at all. So, they are not correct.”
Speaking with editors in Lagos on Tuesday, Akpabio announced that he was going to initiate a move to get the House of Assembly to dump the law and revert to the old one. He accused the opposition and aggrieved members of his party of frustrating his intention to standardise the pension law. He added that the truth was stood on the head in the bid to frustrate the law.
The governor said: “The good people of Akwa Ibom State have been unfortunately subjected to the cruelest and most unkind political gimmickry in the history of our state over the amendment of a sixteen-year-old law. This tidal wave of propaganda, misinformation, lies, falsehood, mischief and cynicism, we fear, may already have sucked in some unsuspecting members of the public who lack the ability to appreciate the salient points of this law and its ennobling attributes (see box for details).”
But for observers, what matters is that the governor bowed to pressure and the law is to be jettisoned.
Why I’m reverting to the old law, by governor
Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, in a statement on Tuesday, explained why he is dumping the controversial law.
In the last few weeks, truth has come under siege by agents of falsehood in Akwa Ibom State. The good people of Akwa Ibom State have been unfortunately subjected to the cruelest and most unkind political gimmickry in the history of our state over the amendment of a sixteen-year-old law. This tidal wave of propaganda, misinformation, lies, falsehood, mischief and cynicism, we fear, may already have sucked in some unsuspecting members of the public who lack the ability to appreciate the salient points of this law and its ennobling attributes.
Regrettably, one of the best-kept secrets in the political scene in Nigeria is that in Akwa Ibom State some politicians do not circumscribe their activities within the limits of morality and decorum. Some of them can abase the most hallowed and sacred things for their selfish advantages. The present matter is a case in point.
The GOVERNORS AND DEPUTY GOVERNORS PENSION LAW was first enacted in 1998 as the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives) Edict. It was amended in 1999 by the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives (Amendment) Edict of 1999) and was retained in Cap. 122 Laws of Akwa Ibom State 2000. It was amended in 2002 by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2002, which was later repealed by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2006 assented to by my predecessor in office on 26th April 2007.
However, in the course of its implementation, We noticed a lacuna in the 2007 law, particularly on account of its open-endedness in the provisions relating to the medical expenses and provision of funds for the employment of domestic staff for the former Governors and Deputy Governors.
Working with the House of Assembly, we sought to protect the law from abuse by putting a ceiling on the medical expenses for the treatment of these senior citizens of Akwa Ibom State. The ceiling, which was pegged at N100 million per annum for former Governors and N50 million per annum for former Deputy Governors, was never meant to be given either in part or in whole to anybody at anytime for any reason. It was meant to be paid to health institutions involved in the treatment of the former Governors or former Deputy Governors and their spouses. It was, therefore, deliberate falsehood and organized misinformation to claim that the said money will be paid to former Governors or Deputy Governors every year. This has never been the practice and the amendment has added nothing to give credence to this obviously politicized orchestration.
Former Governors and Deputy Governors and their spouses who were not sick were not to receive a dime from the fund. These sums, which were for the Governors and the Deputy Governor’s medical treatment, suffered the most bashing from a mischievous vocal minority who sought to reap political capital out of it. In their frenzied desperation, they even claimed that the law was made for my personal benefit. They lost sight of the fact that I am not among the beneficiaries as I am not on pension.
The other sickening claim was that we excluded some categories of eligible former Deputy Governors and Governors. This is absolutely incorrect. Since the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2006 referred to above, a new eligibility provision beyond just being a former Governor or Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State origin was introduced by the last administration whereby certain persons who served in these two offices and who would otherwise have benefited from the pension, were excluded on account of resignation otherwise than on health grounds, impeachment or holding office for a period less than three years. Section 3 of the 2006 version of the Law attests to this, and this provision, retained in section 3 of the 2014 version of the Law has attracted unsavory comments as though it was a new provision just inserted.
It is distressing to all patriots in our state that this well reasoned and thought-out solution to an open-ended law, which common-sense indicates can be subject to abuse, has been cast rather as a problem by fifth columnists in our state. I share the sense of revulsion of all decent Akwa Ibom people in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in particular and the entire State in general at these politics of blackmail.
I believe in the Akwa Ibom project as evidenced in my work in the state. I am under oath to protect the constitution of this great country, and this I have done to the best of my abilities. I am obligated by the mandate given to me by the good people of my state to do good to all manner of people and I have not been found wanting in this responsibility. This amendment was undertaken, with the patriotic understanding of the House of Assembly, in fulfillment of these articles of faith.
I reject in its entirety the unwarranted condemnation of this altruistic amendment. I am deeply saddened by the vilification of the Honourable Members of the House of Assembly for undertaking a course of action, which we as a state, we should applaud. Truth has been under siege and today I have decided that we should lift this evil siege by proposing to the House of Assembly that the parts of the amendment putting a N100 million ceiling and a N50 million ceiling on the medical treatment of former Governors and former Deputy Governors respectively be expunged from the amendment. Let it revert to the open-ended situation inherent in the law, before the amendment. I will further advise, in observance of the articles of faith guiding the discharge of the Office of Governor that, through extant circulars, a medical insurance scheme be put in place for the authentic and proper management of the medical treatment of former Governors and Deputy Governors and their spouses in order to ensure that the open-ended nature of the law is not abused.
It is my hope that with the excision of these sections from the amendment, the agents of falsehood would lift their siege on truth and not distract the good people of this state from the task of the Uncommon Transformation of our dear state. Let them remember that I am not a governorship candidate. Instead of firing brickbats at me, let them tell the good people of Akwa Ibom State their plans for Akwa Ibom State.
Ladies and gentlemen, I consider this case rested and I take solace and comfort in the immortal words of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, that “History will vindicate the just.”
