Buhari Fights Against Pension For Ex-governors

According to Vanguard, Buhari intends to demonstrate moral leadership from top to bottom by repealing the pension laws passed by majority of the nation’s 36 state Houses of Assembly which confer huge pension entitlements for governors and their deputies.

The pension entitlements in many cases provide 100 per cent pay for the incumbent governors buildings, generous medical allowances for them and their family members and annual holiday provisions, all of which are to last for life. Provisions in the pension allowances are also made for staff, security and vehicles that are renewable every three or four years.

According to a source, Buhari was said to have described the pension laws enacted by states controlled by APC and PDP governors as scandalous.

The source said: “he was very blunt about it and said that it was something that was going to be done immediately, especially because it is not something that can be sustained.

“The feeling was that not only was it wrong and morally unconscionable, but that it was not something that should be encouraged, and he was appealing to them that it should be changed.”

States of the federation that are reported to have passed the pension laws include: Lagos, Edo, Gombe, Oyo, and Rivers states. These laws confer on several former governors huge benefits which in some cases are 100 per cent of what the incumbent is earning, while in others, some benefits in the pension laws are as high as 300 per cent of what obtains in some states.

Buhari who made the fight against corruption the theme of his campaign has promised to tackle corruption head on when he assumes the office of the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on may 29.