The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, said on Tuesday that the new pension bill consisting of an annual N100m medical allowance for former governors and N50m for former deputy governors would put an end to endless medical bills by these individuals.
He stated that the bill was an amendment to the former governor and deputy governor pension law of 2006 and not a new law as being speculated in some quarters.
Akpabio said this through his Commissioner for Information and Communications, Aniekan Umanah, at a programme on Planet FM 101.1 in Uyo.
He maintained that the new law amended bill was in the interest of the state. “The bill is simply an amendment to the law enacted in 2006. It exists in several states of the federation. What the bill seeks to achieve is to put a ceiling to an endless medical expenditure.
“The old law didn’t put any cap on medical expenditure. There was no ceiling. But the governor in his own wisdom decided it is important we put a ceiling so that we don’t make it an open-ended any more.
“The governor is not seeking an amendment in his own interest rather it is in the interest of the state because if you leave expenditure open endless, it means you can spend close to N500m in one year without anybody stopping you since there is no law that puts a ceiling.
“People must also understand clearly that medical expenses provision is not a payment provolone. It is not as if you have access to it. There are procedures before you can get it.”
The Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Sam Ikon, said as long as Akpabio remained a governor, he was not entitled to benefit from the law.
He added that the bill was only an amendment to three clauses of the existing 2006 Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law.
He condemned what he termed the politicisation of the new law by a section of the media and pointed out that the law is “just a third version of the second amendment to a law that had already existed.”
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