If you need any indication that governance in Nigeria has never been about the people, but about politicians fattening themselves via their proximity to power, look at the decision made by the Bayelsa Assembly on Wednesday to approve life pensions for all its lawmakers in the state. The Bill was sponsored by Peter Akpe, the House Leader and it approves N500,000 post-service monthly pension to speakers, N200, 000 for deputy speakers, and N100, 000 for other members.

It’s worth mentioning that the Bayelsa Assembly is PDP-dominated, and the APC faction of the Assembly has kicked against the life pension. Doifie Buokoribo, the State Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, in Yenagoa, the described the bill as ”unjust, ungodly and self-serving.”

What is particularly shocking is that Bayelsa is one of the states in the country where civil servants protests the non-payment of salaries. On Twitter, the life pension Bill has riled up Nigerians, and rightfully so:

What’s happening at the Bayelsa State House Of Assembly is offensive.
Those lawmakers barely deserve any salary at all, to say nothing of these life pensions they’ve given themselves.

— Chief orwelliANDYstopia (@andyRoidO) April 26, 2019

Nobody is talking about this Bayelsa assembly life pension scam? How can you be on life pension for being a lawmaker for four years? Then we should think about putting youth corpers on life pay, after all, other countries are paying jobless graduates.

— TD7 ???? (@juvanitommy) April 26, 2019

Bayelsa is now the first state in the country where legislators will receive a life pension. All the usual suspects are unlooking because there is no way they can blame Buhari for it.

— Daddy D.O?? (@DOlusegun) April 25, 2019

Imagine Lagos state legislators approved life pension to themselves; this street would have been littered with stories of masters & slaves, Lagos landlords, Bourdillion tiger, several petitions to UN from our “learned neighbors”.

Well Bayelsa is PDP state, it doesn’t matter.

— [Matthew] (@ATM_ReGe) April 25, 2019

Bayelsa…. where did we go wrong???
how can the House of Assembly opt for a lifetime pension, for past Presidents, Governors and Assembly members??? Our state is in dire need of development and this is what these Puppets will come up with??? We will resist this move!

— Adiaspride (@FishermanSoup) April 25, 2019

Bayelsa setting a bad precedence. Life pension for lawmakers?

These politicians know they have no life outside of politics, so they are securing their own future at the expense of the state.

— Ẹdẹ?? (@aholagunju) April 25, 2019