By Oladipupo Awojobi
The Deputy Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon Taiwo Kolawole has said that there is nothing like a Bill on Life Pension for Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the House in the Assembly.
He stated this in a telephone interview on Thursday, saying the issue was part of the last amendment to the constitution that was passed to the 36 state houses of Assembly and that more than two third of the houses of assemblies passed it into law.
“There has been a provision for it in our constitution, but it was limited to Governors and Deputy Governors. More than two third of the state Houses of Assemblies believe that the legislative arm of government should also benefit from this. It has been approved by the National Assembly and it is waiting for the assent of the President. It did not start from the Lagos State House of Assembly,” he said.
According to him, this was what the Assembly passed for the Governor and the Deputy Governor.
“We did not want to touch it, but somebody said we had to discuss it. It is not coming in the nearest future. It is not in any stage now, it has been introduced and stepped down by the members. Each state assembly would work out how it would implement its own,” he said.
The Deputy Speaker added that it is unfortunate that this is coming at a time that elections are coming up and that the Bill is nowhere to be found in the Lagos State House of Assembly now.
