By Correspondent in Lokoja.
Federal government retirees in Lokoja, Kogi State, have commended the Senate for championing the cause, which if materialises,would bring succour to them eventually and make the contributory pension scheme desirable.
They gave the commendation in separate interview with the Correspondent of The Reporters in Lokoja on Wednesday, saying that the need for a pension scheme that would make life meaningful for the retirees was over due.
Messrs Joseph Alabi, Igwe Ambrose, Muhammad Abdullahi and Abdulkarim Mayaki among others, described as terrible,a situation whereby many retirees, who had put in meritorious 35 years of in the service of their father land, would have to wait for over a year to access their pension.
Our Correspondent reports the retirees concerned were reacting to the Senate consideration of a bill seeking to bring respite to distressed Nigerian retirees.
The Reporters gathered that the bill which passed the second reading on Wednesday iss tagged “Pension Reform Act 2014 (Amendment), Bill 2022.” and sponsored by Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto North).
The Senator who led debate on the general principles of the bill, said the bill sought to amend the Pension Reform Act 2014, to provide for a definite and reasonable percentage a retiree could withdraw from his/her retirement savings accounts.
According to him, the provisions of the Bill also seek to “provide for succour to retirees in the delay and other difficulties they stumble upon in withdrawing their savings from retirement savings account.”
He decry the inability of Nigerian pensioners to access their benefits after service, a developmnt he noted had resulted in suffering adding that in most cases, this had led to eventual and untimely deaths.
He said that hardly any Nigerian could claim ignorance of the long-drawn-out anguish of retirees from the Civil Service, Nigerian Prison Service, Universities and Parastatals among other Federal Agencies in the country.
“These retirees, rather than enjoy retirement after selflessly serving their fatherland, have continued to live in misery and pain, leading to diseases and even death, as they cannot easily access their benefits,” he said.
The lawmaker explained that the Pension Reform Act 2004, amended as Pension Reform Act 2014, provides for a departure from the old pension scheme of Defined Benefits’, to the new Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) that established the National Pension Commission (Pen Com).
He noted that in spite of the amendments to the Pension Act, the legislation had failed to achieve its objective of solving the intractable pension crisis in the country.
“Suffice to say that the issue of pension Nigeria has more or less, turned a monster that has defied all efforts by successive governments to contain it.
“In view of the retirees’ protracted sufferings and pains, who are equally Nigerians, continued search for a lasting panacea is a duty-bound upon us and all others concerned.”
Wamakko explained that the Act in Section 7(1)(a) was amended in the bill to allow retirees to withdraw 75 per cent of their benefits.
He also bemoaned the situation where pension administrators in the country benefit at the expense of Nigerian pensioners who continued to suffer neglect.
“These Nigerians who have retired from service after several years serving the nation are finding it extremely difficult to be the owners of their pension savings in this new arrangement.
The Senator argued that unless that law make it categorically clear that they could withdraw 75 per cent as proposed in the amendment being sought by the bill,retirees would not have some relief as retirees.
“But Mr President, my dear colleagues, of what significance are all these huge assets and sums of money to the owners, the Nigerian pensioners who are dying daily of hunger, disease, and deprivation. I believe this is cruel and unjustifiably inhuman.
“You may recall that the DG Pencom proudly announced that as of July 31 2021, that they have accumulated assets of N12.78 trillion.
“So let the Nigerian pensioners feel the impact of the assets in the savings they have generated. But the true situation is that,only the Pension Administrators are benefitting while the owners continue to suffer total neglect.”
Our Correspondent said that the bill,after scaling the second reading, was referred by the Senate President,Dr. Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters with four weeks deadline to submit its report to the Senate.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
