The Senate on Thursday declared that only democratically elected former Presidents would be entitled to retirement benefits.

The Senate spoke after a bill for the remuneration of former Presidents, Heads of State, Heads of Federal Legislative Houses and Chief Justices of the Federation was passed.

The bill was read a second time on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, May 27, 2009.Its thrust is essentially to amend Decree 32 of 1999 and ensure that only democratically elected former Presidents are entitled to benefit from the entitlements and benefits enumerated in the schedule of the bill.

With this, all former military dictators including, Generals Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Yakubu Gowon and Mohammadu Buhari are excluded from enjoying such benefits.

President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, said the passage of the bill should send a strong message to those aspiring to capture power through undemocratic means.

According to him, “This (passage of the bill) is to discourage other ways of getting into power through unconstitutional means.
“The only way recognised by the constitution is through the ballot box and not the barrel of the gun. ”

He noted that the passage of the bill should serve as a warning to those who nursed the ambition of getting political offices through undemocratic means because it was no longer fashionable.

Earlier, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on National Planning, Economic Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Senator Zainab Kure, had presented a report on the bill.She noted that, “The bill was one out of several passed by the last Senate and transmitted to former President Olusegun Obasanjo for assent; unfortunately, the President, for some reasons, could not give his assent to the bill before the expiration of the tenure of the last administration. ”The bill reads in part, “Former presidents includes the offices of President, Prime Minister and Heads of Government of the Federation, Vice-President, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice, Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Any person who has held two or more public offices shall be entitled to only the benefits accruing under this act to the highest of those offices which he has held in order of national precedence.

“Members of the families of deceased former Presidents and Vice-Presidents shall also be entitled to annual payments as shall be recommended by the Revenue Mobilisation,Allocation and Fiscal Commission and approved by the National Assembly.

“The remuneration is also to cover the up-keep of the spouse and children of deceased former Presidents and Vice-Presidents, and the education of the children up to the university level or its equivalent. ”During the debate, senators argued that former military heads of state should not benefit from the remuneration package because they came to power through a breach of Section 1(1) of the 1999
Constitution.

Senator Olorunimbe Mamora (AC, Lagos East)in his contribution said including ex-military rulers in the package would amount to encouraging truncation of democracy.

He said, “We should not be seen to be encouraging anything that will undermine democracy, we should add ‘elected’ in the clause.”

Senate President, David Mark insisted that the clause as contained in the bill which recognised former Presidents and Heads of State, was in line with the constitution and did not require further emphasis by inclusion of the word ‘elected.’

The bill also states, “That persons who were removed from any of the offices referred to in this Act through the process of impeachment or were compelled to relinquish such offices for breach of any of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria were not to benefit from the gesture of the bill.”

It further states, “Be it enacted by the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as follows:Remuneration of former Presidents, etc
As from the commencement of this Act, all former:

a) Presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (in this Act referred to as “Former Presidents” shall be–(i) Paid such amount as shall be recommended from time to time by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and approved by the National Assembly as up-keep allowance in addition to the pension entitlement under Section 84(5) of the 1999 Constitution; and (ii) Entitled to the perquisites of office as shall be recommended by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission from time to time for approval by the National Assembly.

b) Vice-Presidents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (in this Act referred to as “former Vice- Presidents”) shall be paid such amount as shall be
recommended from time to time by the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and approved by the Senate as up-keep allowance in addition to the pension entitlement under the 1999 Constitution.

sun4sure:

thank god our policy markers are beginning to open to reality, these demons have stolen allot ;inshort, they are the cause of our nation's backwardness and suffering.i believe god is happy with this decision where ever he is, nigeria democracy:these are the sure way(s) forward.

beeke:

Can u just give me one reason why your god will be happy, sometimes i lack words to express how sad i feel when 9gerians celebrate mediocrity a bill dat got absolutely noting to do with the welfare of the hungry masses of 9ja, after 4 or 8 years of looting billions of naira awarding contract to themselves without doing a thing, take OBJ as a case study

OBJ wokeup one day and decided that 9ja should have NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD billions of naira was approved for this project we all know wot happened up until now the dishonorable thieving moneybag members of NA neva ask any questions and the claim to represent you and i

OBJ pump in billions in the energy sector without any tangible result to show for it

how about our road network from 1999 to 2003 OBJ spent billions on roads rehab and networking but we all know how deplorable our roads are, our health sector is a grave yard dat why if any of the ITT sneezes twice he or she is on the next available flight to europe for medical attention look at our education a country were noting is working instead of making laws for the masses they are busy making laws that will enable them to loot and loot and continue looting, after reaping us off we still be paying them retirement benefit what a shame, nigerians are still deep in slumber. one thing i know is that my God is not happy and neither is he sleeping becos a change will take place in that nation called 9geria God himself will master mind that change and when it happens our politicians will only have one thing in their minds FEAR

slap1:

Paramount bills gather dust and are eventually killed while the trivial ones get express attention. Of what use will this be to the generality of Nigerians. The 'saved' money is already lost.

sir t:

@ beeke

May God bless u for hat response. At least we av pple that can reason like human beings and not otherwise. At times, i wonder how pple think. What benefit does the bill has on the common man in the streets? Whether millitary or "selected" president, what av they done to this country that warrant retirement benefit from tax payers money?
Surely, my own God is not happy with this pple ( Legislators ) and will not be happy with them untill they av the interest of the masses at heart.


@ Slap1

Can u imagine? FOI bill was with them for years and nothing come out of it. Now they are passing retirement benefits for the looters. Can u see how silly they are. Honestly, these bunch of craps will not know peace in their lifes.

desgiezd:

What do they need pension scheme for having embezzled billions of dollars that they would never exhaust in their lifetime?

omo~fat:

Guy, we know on this issue you are right - they are all thieves (loosely speaking) - that is for us to change how our society works and ensure that we dont get charlatans and crooks in power.

But the general principle that past presidents should receive some form of pay stands. What this particular bill is about is simply that it should be legitimate, elected presidents who get it and not heads of military juntas.

Lets not confuse issues or get into emotional arguments. The whole system needs to be fixed but small small. Lets celebrate our little victories, so we can continue fighting the war.

beeke:

Can u just give me one reason why your god will be happy, sometimes i lack words to express how sad i feel when 9gerians celebrate mediocrity a bill dat got absolutely noting to do with the welfare of the hungry masses of 9ja, after 4 or 8 years of looting billions of naira awarding contract to themselves without doing a thing, take OBJ as a case study

OBJ wokeup one day and decided that 9ja should have NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD billions of naira was approved for this project we all know wot happened up until now the dishonorable thieving moneybag members of NA neva ask any questions and the claim to represent you and i

OBJ pump in billions in the energy sector without any tangible result to show for it

how about our road network from 1999 to 2003 OBJ spent billions on roads rehab and networking but we all know how deplorable our roads are, our health sector is a grave yard dat why if any of the ITT sneezes twice he or she is on the next available flight to europe for medical attention look at our education a country were noting is working instead of making laws for the masses they are busy making laws that will enable them to loot and loot and continue looting, after reaping us off we still be paying them retirement benefit what a shame, nigerians are still deep in slumber. one thing i know is that my God is not happy and neither is he sleeping becos a change will take place in that nation called 9geria God himself will master mind that change and when it happens our politicians will only have one thing in their minds FEAR

President of the Senate, Mr. David Mark, said the passage of the bill should send a strong message to those aspiring to capture power through undemocratic means.

According to him, “This (passage of the bill) is to discourage other ways of getting into power through unconstitutional means.
“The only way recognised by the constitution is through the ballot box and not the barrel of the gun. ”

He noted that the passage of the bill should serve as a warning to those who nursed the ambition of getting political offices through undemocratic means because it was no longer fashionable.

ebogentle:

I wonder who ever thought our past leaders even needed any pension. Even the interest generated by their loot is many times more than what legally giving or denying them.

uc nduka:

My thoughts exactly, imagine giving pension to a thief that's stolen enough. Finally, NASS seems to be waking up.

mikeansy:


I also question the inclusion of Abdussalam Abubakar in that list. While he was a Military leader, he was not a coupist and yet he kept his promise to return Nigeria to multi-party democracy. I do not think its fair to give him the same status as IBB, Buhari, Abacha.

akigbemaru:

Bro, you make sense right here. Any law that stipulates giving benefits to Shonekan must acknowledge Abdussalam Abubakar. Abubakar is not a coupist he just exploited the means just like titular Shonekan. The bills are blatantly flawed with the exclusion of Abubakar.

ebogentle:

I dont get it. I thought the first thing any junta does when they come to power is suspend the so-called constitution.
At any rate, i think what has been done right now is to tell would-be military rulers that they had better maximize that opportunity to the fullest while in office.
I wonder who ever thought our past leaders even needed any pension. Even the interest generated by their loot is many times more than what legally giving or denying them.