Raphael Ede
THE Enugu State House of Assembly on Tuesday dropped the proposed New Pension Bill for former governors and their deputies.
The bill, which scaled first reading during last week Thursday’s plenary soon generated condemnation from the general public.
The PUNCH had reported that the bill when passed, the state would be spending over N1.1bn annually on ex-governors and their deputies’ pensions while over N1.25bn would be used to purchase vehicles for the five former governors and their deputies.
However, the house during its Tuesday plenary stepped down the bill following a motion by the Leader of the House, Ikechukwu Ezugwu, who is the sponsor of the bill.
In his motion to step down the bill, Ezugwu said the bill though not out of place, needed to be stepped down following the outcry of the masses which they must listen to as their representatives in the House.
He said expressed the need to consult widely before the bill could be reintroduced if need be.
The motion was seconded by Onyinye Ugwu, the Deputy Leader of the House.
In his speech, the Speaker, Edward Ubosi, said there were a lot of provisions in the bill that were not constitutional which he pointed out to include the payment of salaries to spouses of former governors and their deputies.
This was subsequently stepped down for wider consultations.