Uproar greets Lagos Assembly’s proposed life pension for Speaker, deputy

WHEN the seventh Assembly of the Lagos State legislature first mooted the idea of giving life pensions to the leadership of the House — the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker — the plan was shelved as quickly as it was hatched.

The reason for this is not farfetched. The bill did not receive the goodwill of quite a number of members of the House and the general public at large.

But less than two years into the life of the eight Assembly — the current Assembly — the bill has been resurrected. Though moves to bring the bill back to life have so far largely been clandestine in nature, investigations by Saturday Tribune suggest that the lawmakers have begun making plans to sell the idea to members of the public, who, eventually, will be expected to play a major part in deciding whether the bill will be passed into law or discarded into the waste basket of history.

It must be stated that for the lawmakers’ plan to succeed, an amendment must be made to the existing Public Office Holders’ Pension Law (2007) by the Lagos State House of Assembly.

It is the amendment that would make the Speaker and Deputy Speaker become beneficiaries of the pension, as against the existing structure whereby it is only the governor and the deputy governor that are backed by law to enjoy pension for life.

The Pension Law is titled “A Bill For A Law To Amend The Payment of Pensions and Other Fringe Benefits To Public Office Holders In Lagos State and For Connected Purposes.”

Genesis of the bill

The amendment outlook, it was gathered, again, began to rear its head last year after a concerned citizen, one Alhaji Kola Oseni, wrote to the House asking that a former governor of  the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande and two former deputy governors, Rafiu Bakare Jafojo and Sinatu Ojikutu, be accommodated in the law.

Alhaji Oseni’s argument was premised on the notion that the a number of anomalies could be spotted in the existing pension law in the state (Pension Law (2007), judging by the fact that the law only caters for governors and deputy governors of the state from 1999 till date, excluding the likes of Jakande and his deputy, Jafojo, who died recently.

The controversy that the proposal has been enmeshed in can also be attributed to what is believed in some quarters to be a humongous pay cheques and other “fringe” benefits public office holders and elected officers often enjoy during their active service years.

The Pension Law states that the governor and his deputy are entitled to 50 per cent of their annual basic salaries after leaving office.

It was also states that the governor, geputy governor, Speaker and Deputy Speaker would be entitled to 10 per cent of their annual basic salaries as allowances each for accommodation, furniture and transportation.

Also, public office holders are entitled to a pension of one residential house each at any area of their choice in Lagos State, among other benefits.

The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly is also entitled to one car and one pilot car, while the Deputy Speaker is entitled to one car. All the public office holders are entitled to furniture allowance payable five years en bloc.

All the public office holders are entitled to domestic staff, cook, steward and gardener, among other benefits.

But clearly not satisfied with the plan to include the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker in life pension benefits, quite a number of observers, especially public analysts and civil rights activists, have called into question, the rationale behind the proposal.

While a number of financial experts whose opinions were initially sought by Saturday Tribune on this issue failed give a stance on the development, citing lack of adequate public information on the issue, some activists were quick in condemning the development.

In a chat with Saturday Tribune, the head of campaigns and strategy, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Comrade Chijioke Odom, described the plan as “an act of gross irresponsibility” from the lawmakers.

“This is nothing but an act of gross irresponsibility and a total betrayal of public trust on the part of lawmakers of the Lagos Assembly. This is nothing but self aggrandisement. This has further gone to show that in reality, our politicians, not just lawmakers, don’t really have the interest of the citizenry at heart; they don’t care about the poor and the masses”, he said.

Odom’s views seemed to be in tandem with earlier views expressed by other activists who had also condemned the move. Commenting on the matter in a media chat, Comrade Biodun Aremu of the Joint Action Front (JAF) had said that though the matter was still a subject of speculation, it was not unexpected.

He accused politicians of being selfish, adding that the nation’s politics was not for public service.

“Whatever they are doing is consistent with the general pattern of backwardness of our country. Our legislative arm is being used as a rubber stamp.

“They always find a way to rationalise their actions. The people have to wake up to the reality that we have to redirect our politics. You cannot sanitise our political environment with election, it has to do with struggle. That was why you find uprising in many countries It is not about 2019 or 2023, the people would not get what they want if we don’t fight for ourselves,” he said.

Aremu stated further that the people must be ready to rise to the occasion, saying that  it was an abnormality to disenfranchise 98 per cent of the people of the country as, according to him, most Nigerians can only vote, they cannot be voted for.

In his view, the President of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders (CACOL), Comrade Debo Adeniran, stated that he didn’t know the figure that the lawmakers were legislating for themselves but they must do the amendment with caution.

He said there could be some pension for all the lawmakers if they served the state meritoriously but CACOL kicked against outrageous pensions for government functionaries.

“It is unthoughtful for the legislators to have allocated such an immense amount of money for government functionaries. If the legislators are not going outside the recommendation of the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC), it would be resonable and justifiable.

“But if they talk of legislation on pension themselves and for their leaders, it would be unreasonable, especially at this time when people find it difficult to feed themselves and their families.

“We feel the cost of governance should be reduced. We expect them to reduce the amount of emolument that is accruing to them rather than increasing it. Maybe what they are trying to copy is what is being given to governors and deputy governors, and we feel that even these people should reject these offers because they are not acceptable to an average Lagosian,” he said.

Proposal in best interest of democracy – Assembly

However, the spokesperson of the Assembly, Honourable Tunde Braimoh, did not mince words in pointing out that the House was taking this step in the interest of democracy not just in Lagos State but in the country as a whole.

Braimoh, who is the Chairman, House Committee on Information and Strategy, denied that the move had an ulterior motive behind it. He said if allowed to see the light of the day, the bill would further serve as a way of ensuring that lawmakers continue to work without being seen as inferior to the executive.

“The bill has already passed first reading. It will be further looked into as soon as the diary of the House can accommodate it. In other extant laws, the judiciary also enjoys a similar benefit for its headship; same thing as the executive. So, this is a case of what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. The current structure paints a picture of one arm of government (the legislature) being inferior to the other, and this is one of the things the bill is aimed at correcting,” he said.

“We must not lose sight of the constitutional function of the legislature as the watchdog of the executive. But a watchdog that does not have the necessary wherewithal to serve as a watchdog effectively will be subservient to the party it is expected to watch. Hence, the legislature must be well equipped to serve the people better.

“I can assure you the ultimate beneficiaries of this move by the House is the citizenry. The legislature must be given the temerity and audacity to be equal to the executive, because a situation where one arm of the government is super bigger than the other is not good for our democracy. As a matter of fact, in other climes, both the executive and the legislature stand neck to neck. If the future of the headship of the legislature is not well catered for and guaranteed, it will be subsumed by the executive. If you pay the salary of peanuts, you are bound to have baboons as workers, “ he added.

Hon. Braimoh, who is a lawmaker representing Kosofe 1 in the House, insisted that there was nothing secretive about the bill. He said in due course, and in line with the House’s rule and style, in line with the House’s rule and style, relevant stakeholders and members of the public would be invited so that their inputsb and views about the bill could be obtained.

“This is not a secret-enshrouded process. It is not going to be hidden. Members of the public will be invited during a stakeholders’ forum where everyone’s inputs will be got. If eventually people don’t want it, then that will be it. But there should be no reason for people to throw tantrums at the bill, because why weren’t tantrums thrown when the same House made the current pension law currently being enjoyed by the executive?” Braimoh said.