BY TheCable
The Akwa Ibom House of Assembly has passed the Former Governor and Deputy Governor’s Pension Bill 2014 into law, which means, among others, that after Governor Godswill Akpabio steps aside in 2015, he will have N5m a month to employ domestic staff, while his deputy, Mrs. Valerie Ibe, gets N2.5m for the same purpose.
He will also be paid pension for life at the rate of his current salary. Upon retirement, Akpabio will earn an annual pension of N26.7m, while Ibe will earn an annual pension of N25.3m.
The executive bill was passed after just 11 days, having been submitted to the Assembly by the governor on May 15, 2014. It had passed the first and second reading, and was presented for deliberations at committee of the whole at plenary on Monday.
It states that a former governor will also be entitled to free medical services for himself and his spouse at a sum not exceeding N100 million per annum and N50 million for a former deputy governor.
It also seeks to provide for a former governor a befitting accommodation not below a 5-bedroom maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom. This is in addition to a yearly accommodation allowance of 300 per cent of annual basic salary for an ex- governor, which in Akpabio’s case amounts to N6.7m.
Also, a former governor will receive a severance gratuity of 300 per cent of annual basic salary — another N6.7m — as at the time he leaves office. There are provisions for furniture allowance once in every four years, and yearly fuelling and maintenance of vehicle for another N6.7m each, in addition to other needs to me met by preset percentages of the annual basic salary.
Deputy House Leader Dr Ekaete Okon (PDP) moved a motion for the bill to be read the third time and passed into law, while the motion was seconded by Mr Aniekan Akpan (PDP-Ukanafun).
After the bill was passed, Speaker of the House, Mr Samuel Ikon, directed the clerk of the House to forward a clean copy of the bill to the governor.
Akpabio’s governorship tenure will end in about a year from now, having assumed governorship of the state on May 29, 2007.
The law has been described in some quarters as an effort of the governor to continue enriching himself with state funds after leaving office, but Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Aniekan Umanah has branded the argument untrue.
“That is totally false,” Umanah told TheCable late Monday night.
“It is not a new bill. It is simply an amendment to put an expenditure cap on medical expenses for former governors. We had an open-ended law before now, and that anomaly is what the amendment seeks to achieve.”
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