BY Claire Mom
The Benue house of assembly has repealed the law that granted lifetime maintenance to former elected governors and their deputies in the state.
Four days before the end of his eight-year tenure in May 2023, Samuel Ortom, the former governor of Benue, signed the lifetime maintenance bill into law.
The law provided that the ‘ monthly stipend’ for the former governors and deputies be charged from the state’s consolidated revenue funds (CRF).
A CRF is a fund generated by the state from pay-as-you-earn tax (PAYE), direct assessment, road taxes, and revenues from some ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs).
The law prioritises the payment of the monthly stipend to the ex-governors and their deputies against other expenses like salaries, pensions, and gratuities for citizens.
The law also stipulated that a former governor would be entitled to two official SUV cars of his status “and one official SUV car of his status as former deputy governor”.
At the time the law was passed, checks by TheCable revealed that the law did not state or place a cap on the amount to be expended on utility vehicles.
During the plenary session on Monday, lawmakers repealed the bill because it was not made in good faith.
They said the law was anti-people and agreed to repeal it after several contributions from members of the house.
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