It Is Unconstitutional For Ex-Governors And Their Deputies To Receive Pension From The States In Nigeria
Copyright © 24 March 2024 By Yusuf Shehu Usman mni
Senior Nigerian Lawyer; Former Nasarawa State Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice; Former Secretary to the Council of Legal Education, Nigeria
All the State Houses of Assembly that enacted Pension Laws, under which they confer life pensions and other outrageous and outlandish benefits for ex-governors and their deputies, have neither the right nor the power under the 1999 Nigerian Constitution to legislate on pension.
Under the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, pension is on the exclusive legislative list and not under the concurrent list. Therefore, only the National Assembly can make laws relating to pension. The State Houses of Assembly lack the competence to make any legislation on pension.
It follows that all the State Pension Laws crafted and assented to by the sitting governors are clearly unconstitutional, illegal, and void to the extent that the State Houses of Assembly that purportedly enacted them are without the powers to do so. They are bad laws that cannot stand the weight of constitutional interrogation.
However, the problem with bad and incompetent laws is that they continue to operate with effect, within the jurisdiction, until they are properly challenged and pronounced void by a court of competent jurisdiction. This is because there is a a legal presumption of regularity in favour of laws passed by competent legislatures.
It is advised that the Attorney-General of the Federation of Nigeria should take the initiative to challenge all the States that are still applying these unjust, immoral, and illegal laws to the detriment of the poor citizens of their States.
Or if, for any reason, the Attorney-General or the Federation fails or is not interested in taking up such actions against the States, the civil liberties organisations (CLOs )and other public interest organisations (PIOs) may do so in the execution of their mandates.
But for sure , this aberration (i.e. life pensions and other outrageous and outlandish benefits for ex-governors and their deputies) must stop in the interest of the citizens of the affected States. It has festered for too long and unless it is stopped under the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria), the law may assume some notoriety and may erroneously be thought of as the norm, when it is actually a gross infraction of the 199 Nigerian Constitution.
Yusuf Shehu Usman, mni
Abuja, Nigeria
