Legislators To Operate On Part-Time; No Pension For Former Governors

Legislators to operate on part-time; no pension or severance allowance for former governors. Except otherwise decided, henceforth, legislators at national and state levels would operate on part-time basis. This was the decision of the on-going National Conference on Wednesday based on a recommendation by the Committee on Public Service headed by Engineer Ebele Okeke with Ambassador Adamu Aliyu as deputy chairman. Conference also decided that payment of pension, life insurance and severance allowances where such existed are to be cancelled in line with what has been described as global best practices. Former lawmakers at the Conference were quick to kick against the decision on the grounds that holding a political office is not the same thing as being a career public servant; and that the Legislature as presently constituted is operating on part-time basis because members do not sit for a whole week. Conference also decided that former state governors and their deputies are to be exempted from payment of severance allowances, life insurance and payment of pension. It was also decided and adopted that each state of the federation should have its own State Character Commission to protect the interest of minority ethnic groups in the state. This implies that minority groups in the 36 states of the federation would soon enjoy equal treatment in appointments into public service of their different states. Conference said its position is meant to address the obvious restrictions to the application of the Federal Character Principles at the state and local government levels. Conference also accepted the recommendation that  transfers into the directorate level of the civil service from outside be prohibited while there should be mandatory training as a basis for consideration for promotion to the middle management level of the service. It was also decided that there is need for the civil service across the nation to operate common rules and practices so that the citizenry is not confronted with different procedures when dealing with each arm and tier of government. continued