Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has sent an
open letter to Mr Abdullahi Adamu Candido, chairman of the Abuja
Municipal Area Council (AMAC), urging him to use his good offices and
leadership position to “urgently withdraw and revoke the bill/edict for
the unconstitutional and illegal payment of life pensions to former
chairmen, vice-chairmen, speakers and other officials of AMAC.”
SERAP said: “if the bill/edict is not withdrawn within 14 days of the
receipt and/or publication of this letter, we will take all appropriate
legal action to challenge the illegality and to compel you to comply
with our request.”
Under the bill/edict, AMAC’s past council chairmen would receive an
annual pension of N500,000; former vice chairmen are to receive N300,000
each while former speakers will be paid N200,000 each. The payment of
life pensions is expected to cost the council several millions of naira
of taxpayers’ money annually.
In the letter dated 11 October 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director
Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The payment of life pensions
to the council’s chairmen, vice-chairmen and speakers would cause
massive financial crisis and cripple the council’s ability to discharge
its mandates of providing public goods and services to the people of
Abuja. It would also put in jeopardy citizens’ access to those
services.”
According to SERAP: “The payment of life pensions to AMAC’s officials
undermines the very concept of representative government, as it is a
flagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and
the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act. It
amounts to an abuse of official power, position and resources for
personal gains, and reverses the notion of government as public’s
servant and not its master.”
The letter read in part: “The payment of life pensions to AMAC’s former
officials is a copycat of the unconstitutional and illegal life pension
laws that have been passed by several of the 36 state governments in
Nigeria. Your council is setting a bad precedent as the first local
council in Nigeria to introduce life pensions for its officials. This
would send a dangerous message to other councils and risks opening the
floodgates of life pension bills/edicts in several of the 774 local
governments across the country.”
“Rather than spending millions of taxpayers’ money on life pensions,
your leadership should prioritise addressing the poor state of basic
amenities and deficits in educational institutions, primary healthcare
facilities, potable water, sanitation and the basic infrastructural
needs of the residents within the council’s area.”
“The leadership of AMAC ought to be exercised for the purposes of
providing public goods and services to the people of Abuja and not to
grant personal benefits for past officials. The AMAC is constitutionally
and statutorily obliged to act in the public interest. Implementing the
edict would defeat the very purpose for which your council is
established, that is, to provide public goods and services.”
“Granting life pensions to council’s chairmen, vice-chairmen and
speakers would seriously undermine the accountability of the council and
citizens’ trust in its leadership.”
“People have the right to honest and faithful performance by public
officials, who are under a fiduciary duty to the public. And no public
officer should put himself/herself in a position in which his/her
personal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the
performance of the functions of his office. That is exactly the case
with the life pensions.”
“The public trust to AMAC leaders and officials is not without its
corresponding burden: accountability to the public is the obligation of
all who hold public offices, including the position of chairman of AMAC.
This notion of accountability requires you to take immediate steps to
withdraw the life pensions bill/edict.”
“You reportedly stated that the payment of life pensions was meant to
‘honour past heroes of the council who sacrificed their talents and
energy in building the council. This is to celebrate Nigeria’s 59th
independence anniversary as well as celebrate the 35th anniversary since
AMAC’s creation. It would be a disservice if the past leaders and
ambassadors of the council are not honoured.'”