NIGERIANS WANT SEVERANCE ALLOWANCES OF POLITICIANS SCRAPPED
Cross section of Nigerians have called on government at all levels to give priority to payment of pensions and gratitues of workers, rather than showing more commitment to severance allowances of political office holders.
This was the submission of some participants on the social media known as penpushing platform,while contributing on the issue of which was the payment that is more appropriate for government to show more commitment.
Abdussobur Salaam in his own contribution posited that pensioners should come first,rather that political appointees been given urgent attention.
‘ With all due respect, pensioners must come first. Political appointees at any level can come after’,he declared.
Similarly,Sina Adefolahan stated that, the priority should go to the pensioners on the scale of preference.
‘Between those that served the state meritoriously for 35 years and those that served for 4 years with many allowances attached to the office. To me, the priority goes to the former on the scale of preference’Adefolahan declared.
In his own submission, Sulaiman Osho said,the severance allowances to political office holders is political fraud against the government workers and the masses.
‘There’s no such practice in any other country than Nigeria where political office holders used their offices illegally to put laws in place to give higher payment to themselves and severance allowances’,he added.
Osho also noted that,some states put immoral laws in place to continue to get retirement benefits for the former governors and other political appointees.
He said, yet these states are owing months of salaries and allowances to serving and retired civil servants,stressing further that, there’s monumental frauds committed by these political appointees against the States.
‘Hope Nigeria and all states will revert to the status quo as we had in the first and second republics’.
‘The payment of the pensioners is the best thing. The payment of severance allowance to political appointees is fraudulent against the people and the serving and retired civil servants’.
He explained that,the politicians that served diligently in the first and second republics didn’t slip into the abysmal use of office to make laws to give severance allowance to themselves.
‘For instance, Alhaji Lateef Jakande served Lagos state with total honesty, commitments and diligence. He used his personal car..The yellow Toyota Crown for official work from 1979 to 1983…stayed in his personal house, operated free education, free health services, rural development and employment opportunities. …set up Lagos radio and television, lagos university, schools reverted to morning sessions and cancelled afternoon sessions etc’.
‘He didn’t make laws to give give himself severance allowances. ..the man lives on with his legacies….’,he emphasised.
Osho pointed out that,such actions by the political class is making some people to invite the military to come back to take stern actions to put the corrupt who had stolen the country’s resources to the state of comatose. ..and put them at stake for execution. ..
Also reacting, Chief Femi Shodunke declared that,he would never support the notion that, payment of severance allowances should be made a priority.
‘It’s appalling to me and I’ll never support this idea, especially with the quality of low governance in our country and “official stealing” of the common till, even if we don’t have immediate proof of it.
It’s absolutely crazy’,Shodunke said.
‘Committed civil servants, who served for 35 years or attained age of 60 after meritorious service to a system that aided the political officer holders, often languish in penury when the same politicians refused to pay their gratuities and pensions. To me, it’s official stealing of our resources!’,he stated
In his own contribution, Demolu Okuneye, stated that, payment of severance allowances to politicians has remained one of challenging factors affecting the nation growth.
‘The issue of severance allowance is just one of the problems facing this nation. Most Policy makers are self centered. Greed influences their actions as whatever negative effects on the society does not matter’,Okuneye said.
Another participant, Olujimi Ogundimu noted that,payment of severance allowances to politicians was a fraud,which should be stopped.
‘The issue of payment of severance allowance to the political office holders who served for not more than four years or at best eight years is nothing but a monumental fraud’,he posited.
‘ It is one of the several frauds and maladies brought into the Nigerian landscape under the guise of the so called ‘home grown democracy’. All lovers of democracy and democrats alike should rise up against it. For me, it is a slap on our collective sensibilities’,Ogundimu declared.
In similar manner, Dr Goke Rauf lamented that, many of the politicians are ‘excecutives’ in toga of emperors; whose main concern is to secure their future’ regardless of what becomes of the nation’s future.
‘ Now, more pensioners are becoming beggars because gratuities and pensions are not forth-coming; more girl children are feeding and fending for their parents on ‘what their bodies can generate’ yet, school fees are soaring in our new Nigeria!’
Rauf regretted that,the passions of those old leaders are different from what the current political leaders are passionate about.
‘ To the current leaders, the Jakandes were fools! But they’ll soon get to realise that it takes the grace of God to have the opportunity of finally ‘resting’ in ‘six feet’’,he declared
