Date: 2020-11-14

This is to inform colleagues in the media that the Kwara State Pensions Law 2010 (as amended) is an extant law of the state. It has not been repealed at any time. What was done in 2018 was a slight amendment to the law. The amendment was a child of necessity to suspend payment of pension ONLY for former governors/deputy governors who are serving in any public office and getting paid for it. This was to disallow double payment from the treasury to the same individuals, as was the case in Kwara State when Dr. Bukola Saraki was in the Nigerian Senate and was at the same time taking humongous pension in the state. That was the gluttonous practice that rightly drew the ire of the public and for which the Kwara State's House of Assembly hurriedly amended the law.

We had taken it for granted that the media would not be taken in by the grandstanding, ignorance or deliberate mischief of a media aide of Senator Bukola Saraki that the law had been repealed in 2018. A repeal is different from an amendment that merely suspended payment of the pension package for a limited duration of time. A repealed law ceases to exist. This is not the same for an amended law which exists in a different form.

As earlier stated, His Excellency the Governor will send a bill to the House of Assembly to finally repeal the law next week. This is consistent with his views, right from his days as a candidate, that the meagre resources available to the state are better channelled to tackle poverty and youths unemployment.

We hope this helps to set the record straight, while the media is urged to always interrogate claims from quarters renowned for constantly misleading the public in public statements and actions over the years.

Rafiu Ajakaye

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor

November 14, 2020