Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has signed into law, a bill that repeals the payment of pensions to former Governors and their Deputy Governors of the State.
Gatekeepers News reports that the ‘Abia State of Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Law of 2024’ was passed by the State House of Assembly on Tuesday.
Governor Otti, in detailing the origins of the bill, expressed his appreciation for the Assembly’s rapid approval, noting that it was an Executive Bill designed to end pension payments to former state executives.
He mentioned that, from the start, he believed that the Government would eventually stop the pension payments to previous Governors and Deputy Governors.
According to him, a better use of the money would be to address the pending pension payments to Abia’s retirees, which have been overdue since 2014.
“I want to make a few things clear, one that even before we came onboard a lot of people who had followed our views understand that we were not going to continue with the practice of paying pensions and allowances to this set of former government officials.
“A lot of people had confronted me to remind me that very soon I will also be a former Governor and I agree completely,” he said.
While stressing that Government was not about self-interest, the Governor said he believed that repealing the pensions for Governors and Deputy Governors was the right step to take as it is all about good governance and stewardship.
