MEMBERS of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), at the weekend commended President Goodluck Jonathan for refusing to sign a Constitution Amendment allegedly designed by the National Assembly to grant certain categories of legislators pension for life.

In a statement issued in Lagos and signed by ASCSN National President, Boboi Bala Kaigama and the Secretary-General, Alade Bashir Lawal, the union regretted that in spite of popular opposition to whopping salaries and allowances approved by the lawmakers for themselves, “they were still bent on granting their Principal Officers generous pension for life, a scenario that is going to be a heavy burden on the treasury”.

The Union equally urged the President-elect, -General Muhammadu Buhari, to distance himself from the Constitutional Amendments if he mounts the saddle unless those “self-serving provisions by the lawmakers were deleted”.

The statement said: “It is indeed worrisome that the National Assembly could approve pension for life for the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and his Deputy, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of each of the 36 State Houses of Assembly for serving four and eight years on the average.

It added: “You can imagine the humongous sums of money that would be siphoned monthly through this ill-advised pension for life for the Principal Officers of the legislatures in Abuja and the 36 States of the Federation.”

According to ASCSN, under the current pension law, Public Servants who serve the country for 35 years or attain the age of 60 years are retired without being paid any gratuity, while both the workers and employers contribute the pension that is paid.
The statement said: “On retirement, these Public Service employees are paid 50 per cent of their entitlements while the other half is spread over the years.

“Yet, Nigerian politicians who serve the nation for four or eight years on the average want to pay themselves pension for life.”
The ASCSN pointed out that in rejecting the proposal for life pension for the Principal Officers of the legislatures, the Presidency lamented that the National Assembly defied constitutional procedures and resorted to the use of voice votes to pass such a fundamental Constitutional Amendment and added that it (the Presidency) would not be party to such illegality

It stressed that the association is totally in support of the Presidency on this matte, adding that the union posited that such “financial recklessness” brought the economy to its knees and enjoined the President-elect to distance himself from the culture of impunity that has been the bane of the current political dispensation.

It urged the incoming Governors and State Houses of Assembly where such pension laws had been passed to repeal them because they offend good conscience and public morality, “Where in the world do politicians approve life pension for themselves after serving for four or eight years?”