According to Punch Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State on Wednesday explained the reasons behind the passage of the controversial amended Pension Law of Akwa Ibom State, which has continued to generate ripples across the country.
The governor had last week forwarded a bill to the state House of Assembly seeking approval for among other things a N100m medical allowance for retired governor of the state while recommending N50m for former deputy governors.
He also sought approval for a N60m per annum allowance for a retired governor to employ domestic servants while the deputy governor will be entitled to N30m to engage domestic servants.
The bill was passed by the state lawmakers on Monday.
Akpabio in Uyo however maintained that the law had been in existence since 2000, saying the law, “contrary to media reactions” was meant to “block loopholes and check abuses of the open-ended privileges extended to former chief executives and their deputies.”
The governor, who gave the explanation while signing the amended law, stated, “With the signing of this law, it supersedes the existing law passed by the previous administration, which had been in existence since year 2000.
“The Nigerian constitution empowers the State Houses of Assembly to make laws for the wellbeing of its people. So, we have today made the Pension Law for former governors and their deputies. This law was made in the year 2000 and was amended in 2006 and is now being amended in 2014.
“The new law states that all staff of the former governors, should not earn more than N5m annually and staff of former deputy governors should not earn more than N2m annually.”
Akpabio added, “No former governor can spend more than N100m in a year for medical expenses and no former deputy governor can spend more than N50m for medical expenses, because such extra money would not be spent by the state government, because we are making sure that we cover all the loopholes of financial wastages.
“For the widows of former governors, they would receive a minimum of N1m a monthly for medical expenses and N500,000 for the widows of former deputy governors.”
Akpabio explained that the law covered those who served in the old Cross River State, stating that the law was to streamline and to bring sanity to the spending of the state finances.
*Does his defence make sense to you?
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