I'm not receiving pension from my state - Saraki

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has declared that he had stopped collecting pension in Kwara state where he was the governor for 8 years.

He made this assertion during a FORUM organized by News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.

Here are some of the excerpts of his words during the interactive session:

“No, I’m not collecting pension; the moment I saw that allegation, I wrote to my state to stop my pension.

“So, I speak for myself on that part; I’m not doing that, I am not receiving pension from my state,’’.

On other senators involved on the issue, Saraki said “I think I will leave everybody to their individual decision.

“Morally, if you have got another job, you should give it up until when you are truly a pensioner.

“Some of these oversights are not addressing the issues. What the states should do is to go and amend their laws to say that if you have another appointment then you are not entitled to that benefit.

“With this, we will just simplify the matter.”

On the role of Bank of Infrastructure in the country, Saraki said that the Senate had not had any serious interface with the bank, but that it was involved in some projects.

“We are not engaging with them particularly. I think that they were part of those involved in the Lagos-Ibadan road. But, I don’t think government should really put funds into that.

“I have this strong view and I feel very strongly about it, that nowhere in the world has government funded infrastructure.

“Government cannot, and even if government can fund infrastructure projects, the social sector will suffer – health will suffer and education will suffer.’’

He said there were a lot of complaints that budgetary allocation to health and education was too low, attributing it to the fact that much money was being invested in infrastructure development.