{"id":66380,"date":"2019-04-29T06:06:41","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T05:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=66380"},"modified":"2019-04-29T06:06:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T05:06:41","slug":"serap-writes-gov-dickson-asks-him-to-reject-life-pension-for-bayelsa-lawmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/serap-writes-gov-dickson-asks-him-to-reject-life-pension-for-bayelsa-lawmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"SERAP writes Gov. Dickson, asks him to reject life pension for Bayelsa\u00a0 lawmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an<\/div>\n
\n
open letter to Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State urging him to
\nuse his “good offices as trustee of the state’s resources, and
\nconsistent with your constitutional oath of office, to reject the
\nproposed life pension bill by the leader of the House of Assembly Peter
\nAkpe, and to prevail upon the House to immediately withdraw the
\nself-serving bill.”<\/p>\n

The House had last week passed a bill that would grant life pensions to
\nspeakers, deputy speakers and other members. Under the bill, speakers
\nwill go home with N500,000 monthly, while deputy speakers will receive
\nN200,000. 24 other members will each get N100,000. The House is seeking
\nlife pensions for members similar to those “applicable to former
\npresidents, vice-presidents, governors and deputy governors across the
\ncountry.”<\/p>\n

But reacting, SERAP said: “Public officials have a legal commitment to
\ndischarge a public duty truthfully and faithfully. Should you assent to
\nthe bill as proposed, SERAP will institute legal proceedings to
\nchallenge the legality of the legislation and ensure full compliance
\nwith constitutional provisions and Nigeria’s international
\nanti-corruption obligations.”<\/p>\n

In the letter dated 26 April 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director
\nKolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The bill amounts to an
\nincorrect and improper performance of public functions. It’s clearly an
\nabuse of legislative functions by the lawmakers. Rather than sponsoring
\nbills that would improve access of children in Bayelsa to quality
\neducation, the lawmakers are taking advantage of their entrusted public
\npositions to propose a bill to collect large severance benefits.”<\/p>\n

According to the organization: “The lawmakers are clearly the major
\nbeneficiaries under the proposed legislation. Therefore, by passing the
\nlife pension bill, the lawmakers of Bayelsa State House of Assembly have
\nviolated the constitutional and international prohibitions on conflicts
\nof interest.”<\/p>\n

The letter read in part: “The people of Bayelsa would expect you, as
\ntheir governor, to use your entrusted public office to act in the public
\ninterest, including by rejecting the life pension bill and prevailing
\nupon the House of Assembly to immediately drop the bill.”<\/p>\n

“Conflicts of interest as well as perceptions of such conflicts would
\nundermine public confidence in the integrity and honesty of not only the
\nBayelsa State House of Assembly but also your government, if urgent
\naction is not taken to prevail upon the House to drop the outrageous
\nbill.”<\/p>\n

“SERAP notes that Bayelsa State has in recent years received trillions
\nof Naira from the federation account. Yet, according to the State
\nUniversal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), over 265,000 Nigerian children
\nlack access to basic education in the State. The public funds that would
\nbe spent to pay life pensions to the lawmakers could be well used to
\naddress the problem of growing rate of out-of-school children in the
\nstate.”<\/p>\n

“It is forbidden for any public official including lawmakers to engage
\nin self-dealing, and place him\/herself in a position of conflicting
\ninterests and to hold incompatible functions or illicitly engage in
\nproviding to him\/herself emoluments deemed unacceptable,
\nunconstitutional and illegal.”<\/p>\n

“In the Seventh Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as
\namended), you commit to strive to ‘preserve the Fundamental Objectives
\nand Directive Principles of State Policy contained in the Constitution,
\n[and not to] allow my personal interest to influence my official conduct
\nor my official decisions’. You also commit to: protect and defend the
\nconstitution, and to ‘do right to all manner of people according to law
\n[and to] devote myself to the service and well-being of the people of
\nNigeria’.”<\/p>\n

“Constitutional oath of office requires public officials including
\nlawmakers to abstain from all improper acts, including passing the life
\npension bill, that are inconsistent with the entrusted positions and the
\noverall objectives of the Constitution. We believe that a false oath
\nlacks truth and justice. The oath statements require the oath takers to
\ncommit to uphold and defend the Constitution.”<\/p>\n

“Under the bill, former lawmakers, including persons of Bayelsa origin
\nwho served in the old Rivers State, would enjoy life pensions for ‘their
\nservices’ in the state as applicable to former presidents,
\nvice-presidents, governors and deputy governors across the country.”<\/p>\n

“It is estimated that hundreds of lawmakers will benefit from the life
\npension proposed legislation, which will invariably cost Bayelsa State
\nat least N20 million taxpayers’ money monthly. This amount will increase
\nin subsequent years.”<\/p>\n

“SERAP believes that the action by the lawmakers is entirely
\ninconsistent and incompatible with the object and purpose of the UN
\nConvention against Corruption, to which Nigeria is a state party and
\nwhich implicitly prohibits large severance benefits for public officials
\nsuch as members of Bayelsa State House of Assembly.”<\/p>\n

“The convention, which is binding on all states of the federation,
\nspecifically in paragraph 1 of article 8 requires the lawmakers to
\npromote integrity, honesty and responsibility in the management of
\npublic resources.”<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an open letter to Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State urging him to use his “good offices as trustee of the state’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSERAP writes Gov. Dickson, asks him to reject life pension for Bayelsa\u00a0 lawmakers - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/serap-writes-gov-dickson-asks-him-to-reject-life-pension-for-bayelsa-lawmakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SERAP writes Gov. 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