The President of the Senate, Dr Bukola
Saraki, said he had stopped collecting
pension in Kwara as a former governor of
the state. He said that he wrote a letter to
the state government to stop the payment
of the pension.
According to Saraki, the move was sequel to
complaints from some quarters that former
governors who are currently senators or
ministers were receiving pension and salary
in their new jobs, all from the government.
A civil society organisation, Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project, had
accused the former governors of receiving
double pay from government, and said it
was illegal.
“No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment
I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to
stop my pension.
“So, I speak for myself on that part; I’m not
doing that, I am not receiving pension from
my state,” he said.
On other senators involved on the issue,
Saraki said “I think I will leave everybody to
their individual decision.
“Morally, if you have got another job, you
should give it up until when you are truly a
pensioner.
“Some of these oversights are not
addressing the issues. What the states
should do is to go and amend their laws to
say that if you have another appointment
then you are not entitled to that benefit.
“With this, we will just simplify the matter.”
On the role of Bank of Infrastructure in the
country, Saraki said that the Senate had not
had any serious interface with the bank, but
that it was involved in some projects.
“We are not engaging with them
particularly. I think that they were part of
those involved in the Lagos-Ibadan road.
But, I don’t think government should really
put funds into that.
“I have this strong view and I feel very
strongly about it, that nowhere in the world
has government funded infrastructure.
“Government cannot, and even if
government can fund infrastructure
projects, the social sector will suffer – health
will suffer and education will suffer.’’
He said there were a lot of complaints that
budgetary allocation to health and
education was too low, attributing it to the
fact that much money was being invested in
infrastructure development.
Saraki explained that due to the challenges,
the National Assembly had passed Bills that
would encourage private sector
participation in infrastructure development.
“What should happen is that we should try
and get private sector to take over some of
these infrastructure so that the money can
go into education and health.
“By doing that, banks like Bank of
infrastructure will come in.
“We are really pushing the idea of,
particularly, the Lagos-Ibadan road, that
appropriating that project from the budget
does not show seriousness.
“This is a road that is very viable; that is
centre of the commercial activity and we
should see how private sector can
participate.
“For example, even if you go by the
budgetary allocation on that road, last year
was N30bn, this year, after back and forth,
we took it back to N20bn.
“This was done so that if they don’t find
private funding, we will take it up,’’ he said.
According to him, even if the N30bn was
provided, it will not be enough because that
road needs about N100bn to be completed.
“So, the point I’m making which I want to
emphasise is that it is the kind of laws and
policies that we pass that will encourage
private sector that will make the
infrastructure deficit to reduce.
