Bayelsa State governor, Seriake Dickson, has declined assent to the bill seeking life pension for former lawmakers from the State as proposed and passed by the Assembly.
This was disclosed in a statement by the Commissioner for Information, Daniel Iworiso-Markson, issued in Yenagoa.
According to the statement, Dickson has conveyed the decision to decline assent to the bill in a letter to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Konbowei Benson.
The governor earlier held consultations meeting with the House of Assembly members in his country home, Toru-Orua, in Sagbama local government area, where he stated his reason for declining assent to the bill.
Dickson stated that the bill was inconsistent with Section 124 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
He added that he was of the view that the State Assembly lacked the powers to expand the categories of public servants who should be entitled to pension.
He said he had to withhold assent to the bill because Bayelsa, which was bedeviled with a lot of challenges in spite of its low Internally Generated Revenue base and unstable earnings from the oil economy, is the only State to come up with such a bill.
According to him, he was guided in the decision by the principle that government should not be for a select class of the privileged in the society, and would not discard it over seven years into his administration.
“The lawmakers and indeed the Nigerian populace would attest to the fact that all decisions of his administration were guided by the strong urge to protect the public interest and promote the general good”.
Recall that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had appealed to the Governor to act within his constitutional oath of office and reject what it termed “a self-serving bill”
The Bill proposed that speakers will go home with N500,000 monthly, while deputy speakers will receive N200,000 and the 24 other members will each get N100,000.
According to the House, the Bill is expected to grant members pension similar to those “applicable to former presidents, vice-presidents, governors and deputy governors across the country.”