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Severance allowance: Okorocha, Ambode, others to earn N2.06bn

Published

5 years ago

April 20, 2019

Fourteen governors , their deputies and 434 state lawmakers who will not be returning to government will be going home with N 2 . 06 bn , investigation has shown .

Prominent among the governors are Imo State Governor , Rochas Okorocha , and Kwara State Governor , Abdulfatah Ahmed , who are concluding their second terms in office .

Akinwunmi Ambode who lost the nomination of his party prior to the governorship election on March 8 ; and Adamawa State Governor , Bindo Jibrila, and his counterpart in Bauchi , Mohammed Abubakar , who did not win their re -election bids are also among the governors to collect severance allowance .

Going by a template obtained from the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission , each of the governors will get a total of N 6 . 67 m as severance allowance . Each of their deputies will receive a total of N 6 . 34 m as severance allowance at the end of their tenures on May 29 .

This means that the 14 governors and their deputies will be going home with a total of N 182. 11 m at the expiration of their tenures on May 29 .

The severance allowance is , however , separate from other packages which many states have put in place as retirement benefits or pension packages for their governors and deputy governors .
Some of such packages include unlimited health care benefits as well as houses in any place of their choice in the state . Some also offer another house in the Federal Capital Territory . Some former governors have been known to implement some of the packages for themselves towards the end of their tenures .

Investigation also showed that 434 state lawmakers spread across 27 states will be going home with a total of N 1 . 88 bn . Each state lawmaker is entitled to 300 per cent of their annual basic salary as severance allowance . This comes to N 4 . 34 m .
In Oyo State where 30 lawmakers will not be returning to the state House of Assembly, the lawmakers are to receive a total of N 130 . 14 m .

In Niger State , 27 non – returning lawmakers will receive a total of N 117. 12 m ; while in Benue, 24 non – returning lawmakers will get a severance package of N 104. 16 m . Ekiti State also has 24 non – returning lawmakers that will go home with N 104. 16 m .
Twenty three non – returning lawmakers in Kwara State will be receiving a total of N 99 . 82 m . The same amount will be going to 23 non – returning lawmakers in Osun State .
Ogun State has 22 non – returning lawmakers who will receive a total of N 95 . 48 m . The same amount will also be paid to 22 lawmakers who will not be returning to the Bauchi State House of Assembly.

In Imo State , 21 non – returning state lawmakers will go home with a total of N 91 . 14 m while 19 lawmakers in Gombe State will be going home with N 82 . 46 m . Ondo State has 18 non – returning lawmakers that will return home with N 78 . 12 m .

Anambra State has 17 non – returning lawmakers that will go home with N 73 . 78 m . The same applies to Plateau State while Kogi and Zamfara states have 16 non – returning lawmakers respectively that will go home with N 69 . 44 m .

Edo State has 15 non – returning lawmakers that will go home with N 65 . 1 m . Adamawa and Akwa Ibom states have 14 non -returning lawmakers ( each ) , who will go home with N 60 . 76 m .

Katsina State ’ s 13 non – returning lawmakers will go home with N 56 . 42 m ; Bayelsa State ’ s 12 lawmakers will go home with N 52 . 08 m while Abia State ’ s 11 non -returning lawmakers will get a total of N 47 . 74 m . Taraba State ’ s 10 non – returning lawmakers will receive a total of N 43 . 4 m .
Ebonyi and Borno states tied at nine lawmakers that will go home with a total of N 39 . 06 m per state . Cross River State has only four non – returning lawmakers who will go home with N 17 . 36 m while Rivers State produced only three non – returning state lawmakers who will get N 13 . 02 m .
Incidentally , Lagos State whose governor could not get the party ’ s ticket produced the least number of only one non -returning lawmaker that will get N 4 . 34 m .

Severance allowance is paid to political office holders at the end of their tenure . There are other allowances which they receive while in service . These include motor fuelling allowance , furniture allowance , newspaper allowance , hardship allowance and a host of others .