Zamfara State Assembly repeals law backing jumbo pay for ex-Governors, Speakers

 

BY OUR EDITOR

The Zamfara State House of Assembly has taken the bull by the horn, dismantling bogus state law that allowed jumbo payment of pension and other allowances to former governors and their deputies, as well as former Speakers and their deputies.

The law which provided for the payment of millions of Naira as upkeep allowance and pension for the benefiting politicians was enacted in 2006 during the administration of Ahmad Sani Yerima, but was amended and assented to in the twilight of the former governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, who was also chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF)

Incidentally, the abolishment of the law Tuesday came barely 48 hours after former governor Yari wrote his successor, Governor Bello Matawalle, demanding for the payment of his upkeep allowance running into tens of millions of Naira, leaked to the press.

According to the letter which has generated so much furor, the monthly upkeep allowance for an ex-governor in the state is N10 million.

Presenting the bill  before the House,  the House leader, Hon. Faruk Musa Dosara (PDP, Maradun 1) urged his colleagues to as a matter of urgency consider abolishing the law which provided for the jumbo pay for former political leaders of the state at the detriment of the retired civil servants who have not been paid their entitlements over the years.

According to Hon Dosara, this category of past leaders is collecting over N700 million annually which he said the present state economy could not accommodate.

Seconding the motion, Hon. Tukur Jekada Birnin Tudu (PDP, Bakura), said the abolishment of the law was highly necessary as it was detrimental to the socio-economic well-being of the citizens of the state.

DAILY TRUST reports that after serious deliberations and contributions by the house members, the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Nasiru Mu’azu Magarya, ordered the Clerk of the House to give the bill first and second reading.

The bill which was later sent to the house committee which met during the plenary, went for a third reading as the House passed the bill into law and sent it to the governor for his assent.

With this development, according to the spokesperson of the state assembly, Mustapha Jafaru Kaura, all past political leaders in Zamfara state would no longer enjoy the jumbo allowances unless those prescribed by the National Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission.

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