The governor of Abia, Alex Otti has repealed the law granting pension payments to former governors, and deputies of the state. He explained that the new law was part of efforts designed to promote good governance and stewardship in Abia. The Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Bill of 2024 was signed on Thursday, 21 March 2023. The governor also said that he firmly believed that leadership was all about stewardship and should not be viewed as an opportunity to misappropriate or loot public funds. Notably, before the bill was signed by Governor Otti, the Speaker of the Abia House of Assembly, Emmanuel Emereuwa, also affirmed that the bill when signed into law would revoke Abia State Governors’ and Deputy Governors’ Law no 4 of 2001. Otti thanked the Abia House of Assembly for expeditiously dealing with the bill and commended them for the cordial relationship between the legislative and executive arms of government. Mr Otti said that the cordial relationship between both arms of government had been built on trust and understanding that the separate arms of government were working together for the people. He assured the legislature of the utmost support from the executive. Mr Otti described the new law regarding revoking pension payments to former officeholders as a step in the right direction. He said that “government is not about self-interest, it is actually self-interest that destroys government.” Public welfare over individual benefits ought to be given key consideration in policy-making. Stating that he was not oblivious to the fact that he would have also benefitted if the law continued to exist adding it is more expeditious to allot the funds to improve the lives of citizens.
The governor elucidated that pensioners were the people who needed the funds the most and not former officeholders. He expressed discontent over the practice of allocating 80 percent of the state’s budget to recurrent expenditure and 20 percent to capital expenditure by past administrations. He said that the changed policy was part of the efforts made by the present administration to reduce the cost of governance — saying, “I have seen engagements where people said that they have not been collecting. It is true because they have not been paid, and we don’t believe that those payments should be made. One of the people who should be paid wrote to me about not being paid; I put a call across to him and explained why it should not be paid and he agreed with me. I told him we had not paid anyone, and he said that he wanted to confirm that he was not being singled out. The point I am trying to make is that even the people who should receive it believe that repealing the law is the best.”
