Benue Assembly revokes life pension law for ex – govs., deputies | read details
The Benue State House of Assembly on Monday revoked the law granting lifetime pensions to former governors and their deputies in the state.
Recall that four days before the end of his eight-year tenure in May 2023, former governor Samuel Ortom, signed the lifetime maintenance bill passed by the 9th Assembly into law.
The pension bill had sought to extend benefits to ex-elected governors and their deputies from 1999.
The law provided that the ‘ monthly stipend’ for the former governors and deputies be charged from the state’s consolidated revenue funds (CRF).
A CRF is a fund generated by the state from pay-as-you-earn tax (PAYE), direct assessment, road taxes, and revenues from some ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
The law prioritises the payment of the monthly stipend to the ex-governors and their deputies against other expenses like salaries, pensions, and gratuities for citizens.
The law also stipulated that a former governor would be entitled to two official SUV cars of his status “and one official SUV car of his status as former deputy governor”.
However, during the plenary session on Monday, May 28, 2024, the lawmakers revoked the bill on the grounds that it was not made in good faith and was anti-people.
