Members of the Kwara State house of assembly on Tuesday, February 27, 2018, have passed an amendment bill halting payment of pension to former governors, deputy governors and other officers holding political offices after their tenure in office.
The passage of the bill followed the consideration of the report of the House Committee on Establishment and Public Service at the Committee of the Whole House sitting in Ilorin.
The motion for the passage of the bill was moved by Segilola Abdulkadir, the deputy house leader, and was unanimously adopted by members.
Matthew Okedare, the deputy speaker of the house of assembly, who presided over the plenary, directed the Clerk of the House, Alhaji Mohammed Katsina, to prepare a clean copy of the bill for governor’s assent.
The bill, which was forwarded to the House by AbdulFatah Ahmed, the governor of Kwara State sought to review the existing law where payment of pension for former governors and deputy governors after their tenures would be suspended.
The payment of pensions to a former governor of Kwara, Senate President Bukola Saraki has been a matter of contention in the government and civil society circles. After an advocacy group brought the issue of Saraki’s pensions to national awareness, the senate president announced that he had refunded all pensions paid to him from his home state.
