BENIN CITY — FORMER Deputy Governor of Edo State, the Reverend Peter Obadan yesterday faulted the recent Bill passed by the State House of Assembly granting life pension and gratiuty to all political office holders, past and present, saying the inclusion of the state legislators in the pension scheme is unconstitutional and illegal.
According to him, the inclusion of the legislators, except reviewed, is a violation of Section 125 of the Constitution which stated that only Mr President, Vice-President, Governors and Deputy Governors are entiltled to pensions and gratiuty to be drawn from the consolidated funds kept by the Federal Government.
The Reverend Obadan, who spoke with Vanguard in Benin City yesterday said the only way the inclusion of the state legislators could be justified is for a review in the power of the state government to deduct from the pension fund and the state revenue to pay pension of the political office holders in the state.
He said, "it was a good action by the legislators, but I immediately saw two things in it. One is the issue of those legislators that served in the past with us. It simply means they will be earning the present salary of legislators as pension. While we, the governor and deputy, who were then not on salary but allowances will earn less. That means legislators would be earning more than the governors and their deputies.
"Another is the issue of the need for the constitutional review before signing the bill into law. You see, there is a constitutional provision on the consolidated fund held by the federal government. I don’t know if the state can pay or withdraw from the pension fund to pay the persons included in the Bill. And those that constitute the political office holders to benefit must be defined. If you include legislators, what about the ambassadors? The Constitution, section 125 states that the pension for president, governor and the Deputy will come from the federal account of the consolidated fund. This will not in any way affect the pension fund and state revenue, but that of the legislators will. There is complexity in the Bill reported by the tabloids, it should be reviwed.”
He, however, commended the effort of the State Asssembly for recognising them as beneficiaries in the new pension scheme.
On the difficulty faced by Pensioners in the country, the former Deputy Governor advised that the payment of pension to retired pulic officers in the country should be held high by any administration in view of their role in developing the nation.
