THIS week, a most extraordinary event unfolded as the Edo State government revealed that it had only just paid the benefits and gratuity owed the late former governor of the defunct Bendel State, Professor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli. Alli, who presided over the former Bendel, now Edo and Delta states, from 1979 to 1983, died in 1989. Governor Godwin Obaseki, who announced the payment of the deceased’s entitlements during the celebration of the award of the “Most Pension-Friendly Governor in Nigeria’ bestowed on him by the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) in Benin City, the state capital, said Alli’s entitlements were paid last week. His words: “Last Saturday, the widow of late Professor Ambrose Alli turned 80 years in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Since he made a lot of sacrifices for us as a state, we decided to celebrate with her and I asked one of the children what he thought was an appropriate present for her mother. He said we should just do her the honour of paying the father’s benefits while in office….We went into the records, prepared the cheque, and took it to her in England. This is to tell you where we are coming from. I’m glad we remembered him.”
For obvious reasons, the payment of the late Alli’s entitlements would have been one of the most exhilarating developments in recent times if it was not also so sad. To be sure, recognising such an injustice as the denial of the entitlements and taking immediate steps to redress the situation is such a noble act by Governor Obaseki, and he has fully earned all the accolades that may come his way for doing so. Sadly, however, the development is also an indictment on the system that calls itself government in the state, including the civil service. Just how could the payment of an ex-governor’s benefits have taken all of 34 years? Was it that the crime—and yes, it is a crime—was not brought to the attention of those who governed the state over the years? And if, for any reason, military governors did not want to pay the entitlements, what about the civilians who have governed the state since the return to civil rule in 1999? Is it that none of them has been paid over the years, or that, having been paid, they saw no need to remember him?
As a governor, Alli left imperishable imprints on the sands of time and it is not for nothing that the state-owned university is named after him. Alli’s achievements in office, particularly in the area of education, are the stuff of legend. Among other achievements, he established over 600 new secondary schools and abolished fees in secondary schools. The state university, the colleges of education in Ekiadolor, Agbor, Warri, Ozoro and Agbor, and three polytechnics, as well as four teacher training colleges to supply staff to the new schools, are all part of his legacy. Nigerians will never forget the governor who always wore sandals, joking that his busy schedule at the Government House gave him no time to buy himself shoes. As governor, Alli abolished charges for services and drugs at state-owned hospitals and eliminated the flat-rate tax, and built low cost housing estates in Ugbowo, Ikpoba Hill in Benin City, and Bendel Estates in Warri. He implemented the UPN manifesto to the letter.
There are many Nigerians who hold the belief, and for valid reasons, that after the generation of governors represented by Alli, political leadership nosedived spectacularly in the country. To now realise that such a historical injustice was done to his name, his image and his memory for so long without the generality of Nigerians knowing about it, and without the political system in the state bringing it to the fore, is simply mind-boggling. To be sure, even if he were not such a fantastic governor, Alli would still have fully deserved his entitlements, being the product of law. But to realise that the memory of such a statesman was given a short-shrift while the political class in the state went about its uninspiring, drab affairs is benumbing. At the risk of sounding repetitive, it is disturbing that an issue that ought to be automatic dragged on for so long, and it can only be hoped that Alli is alone in this circumstance. Certain things ought to be taken for granted in order to encourage good public service, and this is one of them. In case they have missed the point, those who run the system purely on the basis of self-interest are simply destroying the very basis of organised society.
In Nigeria, the tendency has been for governors not to pay deputies with whom they have fallen out their entitlements. In the case of Alli, perhaps just because of the way the military treated him, he was ignored for so long. This is not how a system should work. A good system does not rely on the whims and caprices of whoever is at the helm of affairs. A good system is sustainable, and self-sustaining. We salute Governor Obaseki on his noble gesture, but we urge him to review the facts of the case and put structures in place to ensure that things are better handled going forward.
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