There’s a fresh push by members of the Nigeria National Assembly to grant life pension to its presiding officers.
These include the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker of the House or Representatives.
This was disclosed by the National Assembly Joint Special Ad Hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.
The recommendation was number 16 on among 68 other recommendations on the report presented by the committee.
“That the House does receive the report of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide Pension for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly; and for Related Matters”, the recommendation read.
The Nigerian constitution already guarantees life pension for all former Presidents and Vice-President’s of over N7.8 billion is already being spent to service the life pensions of the above.
Recall that the proposal was first brought up during the Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara-led 8th Assembly but was rejected by civil rights groups and Nigerians.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) had warned that the proposal was being pushed by some former governors in the Senate, who are already enjoying pensions for serving as governors for eight years.
