Lagos Assembly slashes ex-govs’ jumbo pensions by 50%

The Lagos State House of Assembly has reduced the pensions of former governors of the state by 50 per cent.

This is a departure from what Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu promised on Tuesday, November 9, 2020, while presenting the 2021 budget to the House.

The governor, had, at the event promised to send a draft executive bill for the repeal of the law which provided payment of pensions and other entitlements to former governors and their deputies.

A former, Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, was among those who publicly supported the decision.

But a statement on Thursday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Eromosele Ebhomele, said the House decide to slash the pensions after the adoption of a report by the House Committee on Establishment.

According to the statement, the report recommended the reduction of pensions of former governors and other affected officials by 50 per cent.

The report further showed a reduction in the number of vehicles for former public office holders.

The Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, was said to have suggested that former governors should get two vehicles (a car and a van) instead of the three recommended by the committee.

He also suggested that the amended bill should provide that the cars be changed every four years, instead of three years recommended by the report.

While some of the law makers at plenary suggested an upward review of the pension for the affected public office holders by 75 per cent, others urged that the pension remain as stipulated in the old law.

However, Obasa urged that it should be left at 50 per cent, especially as the report had recommended the removal of houses and reduced other benefits.