Life pension for AMAC chairmen

Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council [AMAC] Alhaji Abdullahi
Adamu Candido recently signed into law an edict approving the
payment of pension to the council’s past elected chairmen and
speakers. With its passage, AMAC’s past council chairmen would be
given an annual pension of N500,000; former vice chairmen are to
receive N300,000 each while former speakers of AMAC’s legislature
will be paid N200,000 each.

According to Candido, the gesture was meant to honour past
heroes of the council who he said sacrificed their talents and
energy in building the council. He said it was also to celebrate
Nigeria’s 59th independence anniversary as well as celebrate the
35th anniversary since AMAC’s creation. The Chairman said only past
leaders who are still living would benefit from the package, which
would cost the council more than N6 million annually. Beneficiaries
include six past chairmen, six past vice chairmen and eight past
speakers.

Candido, who said the payment could start this month, added that
it would be a disservice if the past leaders of the council were
not honoured. He said, “To forget the contributions of these
individuals that brought remarkable development to our people in no
small measure and to get AMAC to the high plane it is today will be
the greatest ill-treatment to these ambassadors. They are today
heroes of this council and we would not allow their labour to be in
vain.”

Although the amount involved is not staggering, AMAC is setting
a bad precedent as the first local council in the federation to
introduce a pension scheme for its ex-elected executives. It is
actually borrowing a leaf from many state governments where
governors sponsored legislation that provided fantastic pensions
and benefits for ex-elected officials including governors and
deputy governors. The justification for those benefits was in order
to discourage corruption among top government officials, but it is
being done against the dwindling resources at the disposal of the
governments and the increasing failure by governors to meet the
basic yearnings of the electorate.

Many Nigerians as well as Civil Society Organisations have also
voiced their opposition to this but the governors have ignored
their cries. These pensions and benefits have by no means served to
stop or even reduce corruption among the country’s elected and
appointed public officers. We believe this is a policy that should
not be allowed to take off as it is likely set a bad precedent that
others may soon follow. Political actors, especially those holding
offices, must begin to see politics and holding any office as an
avenue to serve the people and leave a good legacy for generations
yet unborn.

Elected office holders must bear in mind that they are also
being paid to serve. Nigeria ranks among the top countries where
politicians receive the highest remuneration. They should not,
therefore, expect the nation to continue to pay them long after
leaving office. With dwindling revenue coming to all tiers of
government it is time that we begin to look at ways of reducing
cost of governance and not to confer benefits on ex-public office
holders for life. Rather than ameliorate current problems, this
measure could worsen the competition for public office in AMAC,
conferring as it promises to do some benefits for life.

We, therefore, urge Candido to rearrange his priorities and
chart better ways of channeling the council’s revenue in the best
ways to serve the people. From all indications there are many areas
that the more than N6 million intended to pay these past leaders
can be put to use to raise the living conditions of the council’s
residents. The AMAC chairman should not go down in history as
someone who set a bad precedent in the country.

We call on the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal
Commission to immediately step up and ensure strict compliance with
existing severance package for all elected political office holders
in order to guard against abuse of the process.

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