SERAP, Others Blast National Assembly Over Move to Consider Life Pension for Key MembersPAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed! Key stakeholders in Nigeria's politics and governance ecosystem have condemned the move by the National Assembly to approve life pension for its presiding officers including the Senate president, the speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Punch reports that the National Assembly's joint special ad-hoc committee on the review of the 1999 constitution laid its report to both chambers on Wednesday, February 23. The report by the committee contains 68 recommendations of which number 16 proposes a life pension for principal officers of the National Assembly. Recommended for you "Daddy Falana, Debo is my friend": Actor Lege reacts as Mr Macaroni sues hi... Recommendation 16 read: PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app But in a reaction to the consideration by the lawmakers, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) urged Nigerians to take a step forward and ask their representative to kick against such a proposal. The deputy director of SERAP, Kola Dare said the move by the lawmakers of the National Assembly in that regard is selfish. Dare warned: Recommended for you "Wake up": Young mother buys plenty fried chicken, eats the meat after her... He also noted that the organisation is already in court challenging the payment of life pensions to some governors and deputy governors in their states and that this cannot be springing up at a time like this. Describing such as a waste of the country's resources, Dare noted the lawmakers are only planning to divert funds which could be used to improve the health or education sector for their selfish interest. Also, the executive director of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Auwal Rafsanjani, described the proposal as outrageous. Rafsanjani said should the proposal scale through, such payment would put a strain on Nigeria's already fragile economy. He added: Recommended for you "U think u and TikTok girls are the same?" Regina Daniels fails trend, says... Also, reacting a senior lecturer of economics at the Pan Atlantic University, Dr Olalekan Aworinde, should the proposal scale through, the cost of governance in Nigeria will increase. Aworinde condemning the lawmakers' decision said such is the highest level of nepotism, a situation whereby they will continue to enrich themselves to the detriment of the poor citizens. His words: According to the presidency, the sum of N106 billion will be for capital expenditure throughout 2022. The presidency also announced that recurrent expenditures will gulp N43.87 billion for the entire year. These were contained in the supplementary budget transmitted to the National Assembly by President Buhari on Tuesday, February 15. Recommended for you "True true he no dey talk": TikTok star Khaby Lame refuses to speak as he m... The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said the party would continue to rule Nigeria and Lagos state. This boast was made by the president of the Nigerian Senate, Ahmad Lawan over the past weekend. Lawan also called on all Nigerians to support the APC in their endeavour to bring stability and development to Nigeria. Source: Legit.ng Some civil society organisations have kicked against recommendations for life pension for presiding officers of the National Assembly The CSOs described such recommendation as selfish and a possible strain on the cost of governance in Nigeria ACcording to the CSOs, now is the time for citizens to call on lawmakers representing them at the National Assembly to put an end to the proposal PAY ATTENTION: Click “See First” under the “Following” tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed! Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app “That the House does receive the report of the Special Ad-hoc Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution on a Bill for an Act to Alter the Provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 to Provide Pension for Presiding Officers of the National Assembly; and for Related Matters.” “The proposed amendment if that is true, cannot be said to be in the interest of Nigeria." “I think this is one of the most self-centred provisions for people who have been benefiting from the public fund to now permanently continue to burden Nigerians. "This is at the expense of the deteriorating economy, lack of commensurate wages to hardworking Nigerians and also at the expense of social services Nigerians should be enjoying." “It would likely consume a huge amount of money and increase the cost of governance and an increase in the cost of governance will likely lead to deficit spending for the country. All of these are recurrent expenditures."