FG should stop the payment of salaries and allowances to former governors who are in the senate- Femi Falana

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi
Falana, in a lecture he delivered yesterday at
the investiture of Mr. Dele Ojogbede as
President of Rotary Club, Ikoyi in Lagos,
said, it is illegal for former governors, who
have been placed on life pension in their
states, to also earn salaries in the National
Assembly. He also said that lawmakers
should not be paid their full salaries and
allowances if they don't sit for the
mandatory 181 days before going on a
seven-month recess.
Falana counselled the Federal Government on
what to do with those undermining the anti-
corruption war.
In regards to former governors in the Senate,
Falana said:
“It is high time the Federal
Government stopped the payment of
salaries and allowances to former
governors who are in the senate. Since
they are on pension for life, it is
illegal to continue to pay them
salaries and allowances at the same
time.”
He added that none of the 469 lawmakers in
the National Assembly had justification for
the entitlements they collected in the first
legislative year under the President
Muhammadu Buhari administration.
He said:
“The APC-led National Assembly has
also engaged in collecting jumbo
emoluments for services not rendered
to the nation. “Whereas Section 63 of
the Constitution provides that the
Senate and the House of
Representatives shall each sit for not
less than 181 days in a year, Section
68 thereof states that any legislator
who fails to attend the proceedings of
the Senate for less than one third of
the required number of days shall
automatically lose his or her seat.
“For the first legislative year which
ended on June 9, the Seventh session
of the National Assembly did not meet
the constitutional requirement.
Specifically, due to incessant recesses,
the House of Representatives sat for
only 104 days while the Senate sat for
96 days. This means that the Senate
sat for barely 50 per cent of the
required sitting period.
“Indeed, some of the senators who had
to attend criminal courts where they
are standing trial for corrupt practices
did not seat for up to 70 days
throughout the legislative year. The
Senate was actually shut down on a
number of occasions to enable the
Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki to
attend the proceedings of the Code of
Conduct Tribunal (CCT) where he is
standing trial for false declaration of
assets. And in solidarity with him, a
number of senators abandoned their
duties to accompany him to the
tribunal.
“Since the labour policy of “no work
no pay” is applicable to all public
officers the legislators ought not to
have been paid when they did not
perform any legislative duty. “In other
words, having failed to sit for the
mandatory period of 181 days the
legislators were not entitled to
payment of and allowances for the
whole legislative year.
“Having been paid full emoluments
when they failed to sit for the required
number of days, the legislators ought
to refund some money to the
treasury.
“In the circumstance, the Accountant-
General of the Federation should
ensure that the legislators are made
to refund the money collected for the
number of days they failed to sit in
the National Assembly.”
Source: The Nation