Governors and speakers pension abolished in Imo State

OWERRI, Imo, Nigeria – Governor Hope Uzodinma has abolished pension for governors and speakers in Imo State by abrogating the Imo state Governors and Speakers Pensions and Privileges law No 5 of 2007.

The Imo State Governor described the law as a bad omen while giving his assent to two bills, the Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Bill and the Bill to repeal the Imo state Governors and Speakers Pensions and Privileges law No 5 of 2007.

“I am quite glad to give my assent to these two important bills that were passed by the house of Assembly. By this ceremony of my assent the bills are now part of the laws of Imo state to the glory of God”, he said, adding that the ceremony presents an auspicious opportunity to throw more light on why the Executive sponsored the two bills”, he said.

According to him, as a young state grappling with enormous challenges, it dawned on him that the Imo state Governors and Speakers Pensions and Privileges law No 5 of 2007 was a bad omen.

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“At the age our Governors and Speakers are leaving office it will not be out of place to assume that many of them will be alive and kicking in the next 15 years or more. This will mean that by then the state will have more than 20 governors and Speakers qualified for Pensions and Privileges

“I was alarmed that the financial implications for the state will not only be scandalous but indefensible. My simple calculation told me that there could come a time when the state could be spending more than one third of its resources to maintain former Governors and Speakers.

“This was unacceptable to me, particularly for a state that has not been able to pay the gratuities of many retired public servants. It is more so because the same Governors and Speakers also recieved severance allowances, amounting to several millions of Naira, when they disengage from office.

“Severance allowances are targeted at cushioning post public office financial challenges for non pensionable positions such as Governor and Speaker. How then can the same category of former public office holders turn around to receive Pensions?

“Even more importantly the Pensions Act is very clear that only those who have served in the public service for a minimum of 10 years are personable. Paying governors , Speakers and their deputies who spend a maximum of 8 years or less in office is actually criminal because it is against the law of the land”, the governor said.

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On his part, Speaker of the Imo House of Assembly, Chiji Collins, said the House presented two bills for the governor’s assent: the Bill on Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and Bill on the Repeal of Pensions and Gratuity.

He said that the Bill on Pensions and Gratuity has long been repealed in many states of the federation, when it was discovered to run contrary to the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).