Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Nigerian Trade Union activist and labour leader, Comrade Issa Aremu, has described the pension law that makes provision for the payment of pension and other entitlements to former governors and their deputies as illegal and unsustainable.
Aremu who frowned at such law explained that it is obvious that politicians are now playing politics of the corrupt and hence the need to return to the politics of ideology and service to the people.
Aremu fielded questions from Journalists at the weekend while extolling the virtues of the first Republic governor of old Kaduna state, late Balarabe Musa, during the three days prayer.
The Labour leader said, Balarabe was the richest ex-governor in terms of core values as well as promoter of good governance.
He said Balarabe Musa died at a critical period of the nation building, adding, “This is the time that the ruling class must rededicate themselves to selfless governance”.
According to him, the law that makes provision for the payment of pension and other entitlements to former governors will lead to the collapse of the public treasury.
Aremu noted that the nation is becoming very unequal society, adding that the riches are becoming richer, while the poor is becoming poorer.
” I have to commend the governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-olu for being courageous to remove the illegal pension law for former governors of the state. I urged other governors to follow suit. We must know that governance is all about service to the people, ” he said.
Aremu urged governments to be sensitive to the plight of the people, while also advising that the policy of deregulation should also be regulated by the government in order not to create another round of crisis.
” This is a time that we are just coming out of palliatives distribution crisis which shows that there is poverty in the land and we are increasing the petroleum pump price. I felt so bad and I am surprised in the increase because the exchange rate is still stable and there is drop in the price of crude oil. So, I expected that the pump price should go down and not the other way round, ” Aremu lamented.