*Pix above: Gov Alex Otti
PLEASE SHARE
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, on Thursday, signed the Abia State of Nigeria Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Repeal Law of 2024, which was recently passed by the state House of Assembly on Tuesday.
Speaking after assenting to the bill, Otti thanked members of the state House of Assembly for “expeditiously passing the Bill,” assuring the House of the maximum support of his administration.
Otti expressed his belief from the onset that his government was not going to continue with the practice of paying pensions to former governors and deputy governors in the state as the money would have been better used in offsetting the backlog of pensions owed Abia retired workers since 2014.
He said, “I want to make a few things clear, one, that even before we came on board, a lot of people who had followed our views understand that we were not going to continue with the practice of paying pensions and allowances to this set of former government officials.
“A lot of people had confronted me to remind me that very soon, I will also be a former governor and I agree completely.”
He stressed that government is not about self-interest, pointing out that he believes that stopping the pensions for governors and deputy governors was the right step to take as it is all about good governance and stewardship.
The governor added, “So it’s all about good governance. It’s all about stewardship to our people, and I strongly believe that any leader who believes that leadership is a business has lost his way./PLEASE SHARE
*Tags: Dr Alex Otti, Sen Orji Uzor Kalu, Sen Theodore A. Orji
