Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has signed into law 10 bills recently passed by the state House of Assembly, including the bill that abrogated an earlier law that provided for life pensions for former governors and their deputies.
Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Aondona Dajoh, who earlier presented the bills to the governor, said the bills were a testament to the commitment of the 10th Benue Assembly to making laws that will impact positively on the people of the state.
Alia, while performing the exercise on Tuesday night at Government House in Makurdi, explained that the laws were meant to protect the general safety of Benue people and also ensure that their rights as citizens are not abused by other people.
Recall that the Benue State House of Assembly had repealed the law for the lifetime maintenance of former elected governors and their deputies in the state on May 27.
The lawmakers said the law was anti-people, and they were unanimously in support of the repeal after several contributions from members of the house.
The repealed bill provided for the payment of a monthly stipend as a basic pension for former governors and their deputies for life, equivalent to the current salaries of the serving governor, from the consolidated revenue of the state. It also provided for a maintenance allowance of N25 million for former governors and N15 million for former deputy governors to be paid every four years, among others.
Governor Alia, after assenting to the bills, advised the people of the state to forget about partisanship when it comes to law and order, stressing that what he signed into law had nothing to do with the APC, PDP, APGA, LP, or any other party.
