Obasanjo urges governors to end pension payments to former officials

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has advised state governors who offer pensions to prior governors to follow Alex Otti‘s example in Abia State and stop doing so.

He thought it was ludicrous to offer pensions to former state governors and their appointees.

Obasanjo called the pension “a daylight robbery.”

The former president made this statement when visiting Otti at his country estate in Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of the state, on Friday.

He said, “I watched the television and I saw the repealing of Abia pensions and I asked you what exactly is this, and you said to me that the pensions scheme for former governors here was too outrageous.

“It’s like trouble because it allowed them to have a house in Abuja and elsewhere, and it allowed them to cart away with whatever they can, yet the pensions of ordinary people from 2014 are unpaid.

“What sort of leadership? You came and said there would be an end to that rascality. I congratulate you, and I say to you, I hope that your colleagues will follow in your footsteps.”

Obasanjo praised Otti for his bravery in overturning the law and expressed the hope that other governors would take similar action.

“Congratulations for your perseverance, for not giving up, for enduring the storm, and for what you accomplished yesterday (signing the bill repealing the pension law for former governors and deputy governors), as well as for what I found you doing this morning (exercise),” he continued.

“This morning, I came in, and I met you exercising, a sound mind and a sound body, and I say to you, now I know your secret. I was glad when you said you do that every other day. It’s just like me playing squash on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I think a leader must keep himself or herself in a healthy condition.

“There is still a lot of work to be done, I said to you, and here you have started, but you should never be tired. Don’t be discouraged; you will be abused, you will be called names, but if we have one-third of our states doing what should be done, this country will be a different country.”

Obasanjo advised Otti to focus on the state’s infrastructure development, stating that the state will achieve greater heights with infrastructure and capable leadership.

He claimed that Abia and the people of the South East are hardworking and enterprising, and that the people in the region need capable leadership to inspire and enable them to reach greatness.

“I will urge you to pay adequate attention to infrastructure because if you give infrastructure and you give the type of leadership you are giving, the people of the state will have nothing to worry about. On their own, they are enterprising. All they need is the leadership that will give them all the encouragement.

“I have always maintained that if there is any zone in this country that could really give what I call regional development, it’s the South East geo-political zone because you are almost monolithic in everything,” the former President added.

Otti welcomed the former president and gave him the assurance that, as infrastructure development is the foundation of all that is needed, his administration was singularly focused on it, particularly in Aba.

He praised the former president for backing his government’s decision to revoke the law granting pensions to past governors and deputy governors and highlighted the infrastructure improvements he had made in the state.

The cost of governance, he emphasised, is a significant issue for all states and the federal government.

“I agree with you completely on your comment about infrastructure, that is why we are very focused and single-minded in developing infrastructure, particularly for Aba, which is the commercial and industrial hub of the state, and actually the South East.

“I want to also thank you for supporting our decision to repeal the pension law for former governors and former deputy governors. I had said yesterday as I signed the bill into law that I strongly believe that leadership is stewardship and if you’ve come to serve the people, you can’t at the same time be fleecing the people,” the governor declared.