Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has sent an
\nopen letter to Mr Abdullahi Adamu Candido, chairman of the Abuja
\nMunicipal Area Council (AMAC), urging him to use his good offices and
\nleadership position to “urgently withdraw and revoke the bill\/edict for
\nthe unconstitutional and illegal payment of life pensions to former
\nchairmen, vice-chairmen, speakers and other officials of AMAC.”<\/p>\n
SERAP said: “if the bill\/edict is not withdrawn within 14 days of the
\nreceipt and\/or publication of this letter, we will take all appropriate
\nlegal action to challenge the illegality and to compel you to comply
\nwith our request.”<\/p>\n
Under the bill\/edict, AMAC’s past council chairmen would receive an
\nannual pension of N500,000; former vice chairmen are to receive N300,000
\neach while former speakers will be paid N200,000 each. The payment of
\nlife pensions is expected to cost the council several millions of naira
\nof taxpayers’ money annually.<\/p>\n
In the letter dated 11 October 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director
\nKolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “The payment of life pensions
\nto the council’s chairmen, vice-chairmen and speakers would cause
\nmassive financial crisis and cripple the council’s ability to discharge
\nits mandates of providing public goods and services to the people of
\nAbuja. It would also put in jeopardy citizens’ access to those
\nservices.”<\/p>\n
According to SERAP: “The payment of life pensions to AMAC’s officials
\nundermines the very concept of representative government, as it is a
\nflagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 (as amended) and
\nthe Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission Act. It
\namounts to\u00a0 an abuse of official power, position and resources for
\npersonal gains, and reverses the notion of government as public’s
\nservant and not its master.”<\/p>\n
The letter read in part: “The payment of life pensions to AMAC’s former
\nofficials is a copycat of the unconstitutional and illegal life pension
\nlaws that have been passed by several of the 36 state governments in
\nNigeria. Your council is setting a bad precedent as the first local
\ncouncil in Nigeria to introduce life pensions for its officials. This
\nwould send a dangerous message to other councils and risks opening the
\nfloodgates of life pension bills\/edicts in several of the 774 local
\ngovernments across the country.”<\/p>\n
“Rather than spending millions of taxpayers’ money on life pensions,
\nyour leadership should prioritise addressing the poor state of basic
\namenities and deficits in educational institutions, primary healthcare
\nfacilities, potable water, sanitation and the basic infrastructural
\nneeds of the residents within the council’s area.”<\/p>\n
“The leadership of AMAC ought to be exercised for the purposes of
\nproviding public goods and services to the people of Abuja and not to
\ngrant personal benefits for past officials. The AMAC is constitutionally
\nand statutorily obliged to act in the public interest. Implementing the
\nedict would defeat the very purpose for which your council is
\nestablished, that is, to provide public goods and services.”<\/p>\n
“Granting life pensions to council’s chairmen, vice-chairmen and
\nspeakers would seriously undermine the accountability of the council and
\ncitizens’ trust in its leadership.”<\/p>\n
“People have the right to honest and faithful performance by public
\nofficials, who are under a fiduciary duty to the public. And no public
\nofficer should put himself\/herself in a position in which his\/her
\npersonal interest conflicts or is likely to conflict with the
\nperformance of the functions of his office. That is exactly the case
\nwith the life pensions.”<\/p>\n
“The public trust to AMAC leaders and officials is not without its
\ncorresponding burden: accountability to the public is the obligation of
\nall who hold public offices, including the position of chairman of AMAC.
\nThis notion of accountability requires you to take immediate steps to
\nwithdraw the life pensions bill\/edict.”<\/p>\n
“You reportedly stated that the payment of life pensions was meant to
\n‘honour past heroes of the council who sacrificed their talents and
\nenergy in building the council. This is to celebrate Nigeria’s 59th
\nindependence anniversary as well as celebrate the 35th anniversary since
\nAMAC’s creation. It would be a disservice if the past leaders and
\nambassadors of the council are not honoured.'”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other-news"],"yoast_head":"\n