.Appeal for upward review of pension, amendment of PENCOM Act
Ignatius Okorocha, Abuja
Worried by the prolonged neglect of retirees of the public sector and the paltry amount being paid to pensioners, the Contributory Pensioners Union of Nigeria has pleaded with the Federal government to as a matter urgency review the PENCOM Act.
In an exclusive interview with our correspondent, National Secretary of Contributory Pensioners Union of Nigeria (CPUON), Comrade Eugene Emezue disclosed that the Federal government has not reviewed the PENCOM Act, saying the delay has resulted in pensioners being neglected to the extent that their pension are not paid as and when due.
The secretary noted that even if it is paid, it is nothing to write home about in view of the hard economic situation in the country.
“First and foremost, the National Pension Commission otherwise known as PENCOM is duly commissioned by the Federal government to be the regulator of all contributory pension scheme in Nigeria of the Treasury funded at Federal, State and local government levels in this country.
“For almost 20 years now (2004) when most of the Civil Servants were assumed to have retired but for those who could migrate from the defined benefit scheme, migrated from the Contributory Pension Scheme in 2007 and from 2007 to date, government has not deemed it fit to review the Contributory Pension Scheme for retirees.
“That is the problem we are having. For that problem to be solved, the Federal government of Nigeria should listen to the National Pension of Nigeria. Whatever policy they have done, the Act stipulates according to section 173 and section 3 of 1999 constitution as amended, empowered the government and all pensioners for their pension to be reviewed every five years or whenever there is an increase in salaries and wages of active workers.
“As pensioners today, we were formally active workers and according to section 91 of the Labour Act. It states that there two contract agreement worker:
“When one works for 35 years or sixty years before retirement and after retirement he or she remains an employee of a federal government because he has the contractual passion of it which says that he or she will be receiving pension until death.
“Therefore in view of this, every CPS retiree who is alive must continue to receive pension until he or she dies,” he said.
He further noted that,”It is the responsibility of the employer either in private or public sector and those of us in public sector. So, the federal government of Nigeria owns all workers under CPS their pension review just as the defined benefits scheme are receiving their pension and it is being reviewed by the Federal government.
He therefore wondered why the Federal government should not review the pension of Contributory Pensioners even when there is salary review of workers at both federal and state governments levels.
On when the last pension was paid, he said,” from all indications as of December 2024, people who retired as at February 2023 were not paid their pension almost two years since they retired. It was just by December that the PENCOM managed to pay about three to four months arrears ( that February, March and April) from my own record PENCON has not paid any pensioners his or her pension beyond May 2023.”
On the effect of this delay in payment of pension to retirees, Mr Emezue said,” there has been records of pensioners dying of sicknesses and starvation looking at the present economic situation in the country. Most of these retirees have their children still in schools and some of them have lost their accommodations because they were unable to pay their rents.”
He pleaded with the leadership of the House of Representatives and Senate committees, to review PENCOM Act for the larger interest of retirees’ welfare while calling for an upward review of their pension take home package in the light of the current hard economic situation in the country.
