The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have protested what they call huge severance bonuses for governors in the majority of Nigerian states.
According to news reports, most of the outgoing governors will retire to a life of luxury when they leave office next month, regardless of the economic woes afflicting most states.
Outgoing governors, the majority of whom will complete two terms of eight years in office on May 28, would be entitled to large monetary pensions guaranteed by laws, it was learned.
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Most of these governors are expected to receive retirement packages that include houses, automobiles that are subject to modification, medical trips, entertainment allowances, vacation allowances, and salary, among other things.
The NLC and the TUC, on the other hand, have reacted, calling it a criminal and anti-worker act and threatening legal action.
“It is a criminal act for departed governors and their deputies to obtain gigantic severance packages or retirement benefits under the pretense of pension,” NLC Vice-President Adewale Adeyanju told Newsmen.
“These are elements that have subjected the people that voted them into the office to poverty. They have subjected workers to poverty on their father’s land.
“Many of these workers can’t even survive on the N30,000 minimum wage, which many of these governors are finding hard to pay, yet someone that has only spent four or eight years in office is going home with millions or billions of naira as pension. That is impunity.
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“Up till now some of the state governors cannot pay the minimum wage; they also find it hard to pay retired workers’ pensions. And what do they do when they are going? All they do is to make sure that they are satisfied, while the people putting in so much energy to earn money for the government through their labour and also vote them in are left dissatisfied.
“However, it’ll be wise for the outgoing governors to imitate the incumbent Lagos State governor. You can see what happened in Lagos when he came in; he cancelled the pension allowance, and that’s how it should be.
“Unfortunately, what these other governors do whenever they get into office is to sponsor bills at the state Houses of Assembly to legalise this systemic corruption to pay themselves millions and billions after they leave office.
“As a body, the NLC can’t afford to close our eyes to this kind of illegality. The NLC condemns this act. Actually, we are going to come out and issue a statement regarding this. If one or two state governors had condemned this act in the past, then I don’t see any reason why the NLC will not support such governors by saying no to others, who want to loot the state treasury through humongous pension allowances just for serving for eight years.”
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Also reacting to the issues was the TUC General Secretary, Nuhu Toro, who also condemned the matter.
Toro stated that “This issue of governors trying to pay themselves huge severance packages or pensions is criminal and is not acceptable.
“In a country where the cost of living keeps skyrocketing, people cannot afford three square meals, rather than improving the livelihood of the workers and their families who try to create this wealth, the outgoing governors have decided to loot and go away with our common resources.
“The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria will resist this move. The governors claim that there is no money; shamefully, some of them have not paid their workers the minimum wage of N30,000.
“The average worker cannot eat, take care of their families, or get basic medical care; the worker cannot send their children to school because the minimum wage is not enough. The value of the minimum wage is already eroded. How can a governor without conscience after looting the state treasury, still come around to say he wants to be paid a juicy package? It’s even morally wrong. It’s ungodly and unacceptable, and we will resist it.
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“We will resist it under the law, but I want to tell you that the TUC under the leadership of Festus Yusuf will not allow it. We won’t tolerate such from any state governor. We’ll be ready to galvanize all workers to confront them head-on.”
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