The amended law for pensions and other benefits to elected former Governors and Deputy Governors of Akwa Ibom State, is not intended for Governor Godswill Akpabio, but to save the wealth of the state.
The Speaker of the State House of Assembly Elder Sam Ikon and the State Commissioner for Information, Mr Aniekan Umanah made this observation in separate media parleys in Uyo, the State capital.
Against the backdrop of some misgivings in certain quarters, the Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Sam Ikon explained that there was no external influence on the lawmakers’ decision to pass the “Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Bill 2014″ into law, since it was in the interest of the people of the State.
Speaking with newsmen at the Assembly complex shortly after the passage of the bill, Speaker Ikon said as long as Chief Akpabio remained a governor, he was not entitled to benefits of the law, maintaining that it was only an amendment of three clauses of the existing 2006 Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law.
Speaker Ikon condemned what he termed the politicization of the new law by a section of the media and pointed out that the law is “just a third version of the second amendment to a law that had already existed.”
He explained that it was the responsibility of every state government to cater for the welfare of elected former governors and deputy governors after they had served the state selflessly and meritoriously, maintaining that there was nothing particular about the law passed by House of Assembly to that effect since same was applicable in other states of the federation.
Also throwing more light on the law, Mr Aniekan Umanah made it clear that setting a maximum limit of N100m per year provision on medical expenses for former governors and N30m for former deputy governors did not mean that such an amount is granted yearly as a given, but rather it meant that the total amount to be expended on the medical bill of a former governor or deputy is now limited by the law.
“Eventhough we wish our former leaders to be sound in health, the money approved is the maximum approval that can be approved in a given year, and is not just given probono, but only after verifiable due medical processes.”
On the issue of provision for a spouse in the event of the death of a former governor, Mr Umanah said it was not in the good image of the State for a former Governor’s wife to struggle for survival after the death of her husband.
“For God’s sake, where has our society dumped its sense of gratitude to leaders who toiled day and night for the state, that people would wish that former Governors and their families should be neglected and allowed to suffer,” Mr Umanah lamented.
Commissioner Umanah said the only significant difference is that the personal staff of former governors are no longer in the employ of government to ease the bureaucratic challenges of such processes.
Again Speaker Ikon also explained that the law made provisions for former governors of the old Cross River State who hail from Akwa Ibom State, because there was no law in present Cross River State that made provisions for them.
Ikon said that it was unfortunate that the media went viral on the passage of the governors and deputy governors pension law, whereas several bills by the Assembly such as the widows’ right act, the pension law for all public servants in the State as well as the law on the HIV/AIDS Control Agency, were enacted by the House of Assembly with little or no publicity by the media.
The State Chief lawmaker said denied that there were specific persons targeted by the new law, saying it is left for the relevant authorities to determine the beneficiaries. “I can tell you clearly that the new law is not tied to a particular individual or individuals as we simply passed it based on its merit,” the Speaker enthused.
The former Governor’s and Deputy Governor’s Pension Law 2014 which takes effect June 1st, 2014 makes provision among other things, for a life pension benefit at the rate equivalent to the salary of the incumbent governor and deputy respectively, free medical services for the governor and spouse at a sum not exceeding N100 million per annum and N30 million for the deputy as well as a N5million expenditure limit per month for the services of domestic assistants among other benefits.