Falana rails against “scandalous pensions” while other citizens are forced to live on less
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Femi Falana, SAN has demanded stoppage of the payment of “scandalous pensions” to former Governors that enable them to feast while the rest of the populace are forced to fast because of hardship fostered on them by the elite who only care about themselves.
Falana, human rights activist and Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) Chairman, argued some former Governors voted themselves large pension payments and allowances when in office but failed to pay public workers’ pensions and gratuities.
“Many state governors voted themselves humongous pension payments and allowances. Many of the same governors chose not to pay the pensions and gratuities for their former workers whilst they were in office.
“Not less than 20 of them are in the Senate where they also receive jumbo salaries and allowances,” Falana said in a statement issued at the weekend.
“Lagos was the first state to implement a pension law for its former governors. The Lagos State Pension for Ex-Governors was enacted in 2007. Since then, the majority of States adopted the Lagos model. But the pension laws for Lagos, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States are the most scandalous.”
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Fashola confirms receiving N577k monthly pension
Falana’s statement coincided with disclosure by former Lagos Governor Babatunde Fashola that receives N577,000 monthly pension from the state.
Fashola, who later served first, as Power Minister, and then, Works and Housing Minister, denied on Arise TV at the weekend reports he was receiving billions of naira from the federal government after serving as Minister for eight years.
Said he: “The benefit I get, I think, is a N577,000 monthly pension from Lagos State. That’s all I get.|
“So, in spite of all the stories that we got several billions of money (after leaving office), I’ve come out to deny that repeatedly. Well, I don’t know how long it lasts, but all I know is that I get N577,000 per month consistently.”
The Lagos State House of Assembly in 2021 reduced the pension of former Governors 50 per cent.
Former Governors and their Deputies get huge pensions and luxury but civil servants who worked for decades suffer in retirement.
Many states have laws providing fat life pensions for former Governors and Deputy Governors who serve four or eight years.