Governor Nyeson Wike of Rivers State of Nigeria said some days ago that he was ready to die for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forth-coming 2019 general elections, as reported by one of the online newspapers in the country. I personally wondered whether that costly statement was borne out of his dire patriotism to the country via the political party and the desire to give the best to his people; or was the statement as a result of his undying political desperation to clinch to the office of the governor by all means later based on selfishness and political assertion. The pretence and politicking of most of these Nigerian governors is obviously getting very appalling. Some state workers have not been paid for the past 21 (twenty-one) months, yet these defaulting governors did not even grieve about this, but have summoned enough temerity to meet with President Muhammed Buhari for another round of 50% bail-out of the repatriated Paris Funds for their 2018 budget. While in service, they short-change workers, while out of service, they short-change the system, that is, the country and its entire citizenry.
Recently, the Social Economic
Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) instituted a law suit against the
federal government over its failure to stop the former governors and now
serving Senators and Ministers from receiving double pay and life pensions and
failure to seek recovery of over N40Billion of public funds received by these
public officers. SERAP had urged the Nigeria Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General
of the federation, Justice Abubakar Malami to stop the former governors who are
now serving senators and ministers from enjoying emoluments of drawing normal
salaries and allowances in their positions as Senators and Ministers, and
pensions as former Governors. Double emoluments is contrary to Article 19 of
the United Nations Convention against Corruption, to which Nigeria is a state
party”
The manner in which the
terminal benefits and the attendant pensions system of the governors are
structured is not only annoying and repugnant in nature but it has all the
features of obvious stealing. These ex-governors are more relaxed in this
escapade because this stealing is given vent by the respective State Houses of
Assembly, thereby giving a kind of legitimacy to this anomaly which cannot be
tolerated in any sane clime. To add to this ‘legitimacy’, the Nigerian Code of
Conduct Bureau for Governors is not actually against Governors drawing double
payments. But this is an abnormal situation definitely and deliberately crafted
either by omission or commission to accommodate the greed of the Governors. If
the private sector law would not allow one to engage in an extra work for
multiple incomes to ensure total commitment to the organization, then why
should public servants of such calibre as Governors draw from the public coffers
brazenly as double payments for their personal satisfaction?
Sometime ago, States like
Lagos and Edo among other states enacted outrageous laws giving special benefits
accruable to their ex-governors and their deputies. Some of these mouth-watering
entitlements include two fully equipped, first-state-of-the-art Houses located
in their choice places within Lagos and Abuja metropolis. The house in Lagos
will be at the cost of N500Million and the one in Abuja at the cost of
N700Million. Six (6) new brand cars renewable every three (3), and furniture
changed every two years, and an annual pension close to about N30 million
pensions annually are also part of their entitlements.
Though each state has
their own pension laws for their ex-governors and the deputies, the laws are
unequivocally appalling to the ordinary man no matter who made them. The
greediness of these former State executives is underscored by the double
emoluments they receive from their states and the federal coffers, as either
serving Ministers or serving senators in the current political dispensation
headed by President Muhamadu Buhari. The former Governors serving as Senators
include Senator Bukola Saraki (Kwara State, now the Senate President), Rabiu
Kwakanso (Kano), Kabiru Gaya (Kano), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom). The former
Governors who are Ministers in the present cabinet include Rotimi Amaechi
(Rivers), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Babatunde Fasola
(Lagos). There are 21 former governors and their deputies serving as either
senators or minister in the present Government.
The attitude of these
elites is not only irritating, but oppressive and humiliating to the ordinary
Nigerian. I have witnessed some workers who had retired with cumulative paltry
sum of N2 million after putting thirty-five rigorous years of meritorious
service to the country. By PENCOM law, a retiree with such a closing balance will
first be entitled to a 25% lumpsum payment, and after which the remaining
balance will be spread for him as his pensions either through programmed
withdrawal or the purchase of premium by an annuity provider for the rest of
his life. Sometimes, these wretched-of-the-earth retirees get a monthly
pittance of N2000 or at most N3000 per month. Consequently, he graduates from
one level of poverty to the other until he sometimes slump and dies away in
abject poverty. To further nail the Nigerian worker, some of them have not been
paid their salaries for close to two years. Pensions owed them by the states
are not paid in time until they retire and die in penury and the money becomes
untraceable due to redtapism of the government. On the other hand, the National
Pension Commission (PENCOM) has so structured the poverty template that if a
retiree has a balance of N550,000, he can given the entire balance en-bloc, but
once it is more than that, such balance will be further bastardized by paying a
quarter of such balance, and the rest spread as pensions. Such retiree victims
collect a maximum of two or three thousand naira per month as their pensions.
Of what use is N2 million shared between lump sum of 25% and the rest spread
for life?
Some ex-governors in
Nigeria have been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
on the allegations of fraud, money laundering and ear-bursting corruption. They
are milking the country blind. They are the enemies of this great country and
chief saboteurs of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari. They struggle
to have a good legacy when in and out of their service to the state.
I support in totality the call of SERAP to the
Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to halt the receipt
of double emoluments by these public officials whose consciences have been
seared with hot iron. They don’t pay salaries when in office; and steal the
country blind through pension benefits template when out of office. Nigeria is
bleeding; Nigerians are dying! Stop this cheating and enduring evil!
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