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‘Anambra State yet to implement contributory pensions scheme’

By Uzoma Nzeagwu, Awka
06 July 2017   |   4:00 am
The Anambra State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed concerns over the non-implementation of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in scheduled to commence this month.

Pensions

The Anambra State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has expressed concerns over the non-implementation of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in scheduled to commence this month.

State chairman of the NLC, Jerry Nnubia, blamed the delay on the inability of the state government to meet basic conditions of the CPS, which include constituting the Contributory Pension Scheme Management Board (CPSMB) and full remittance of the funds.

He noted that the state House of Assembly had passed the law for the scheme in 2014, but that it could not commence as proposed in order not to affect the fate of retirees.

He pointed out that this arrangement meant that workers who retire as from July this year were supposed to get their pensions through CPS as against the old Pay As You Go system.

“But there are issues already. The state government has not fully implemented the law, which has some preconditions including putting a solid structure for effective take-off.

“One is that there should be Contributory Pension Scheme Management Board (CPMB) for the state and local government workers, which will see to the proper functioning of the scheme and it is not there.

“Again, the government is not remitting both the workers’ deductions and its counterpart funds to the contributory pensions scheme,” he added.

Nnubia, who called for amendment of the law and urgent constitution of the CPSMB, stated that labour has demanded that the commencement of the scheme be put on hold until the preconditions were met and that only those who have more than 10 years in service should be captured.

“There is no way the scheme can take effect without these basics and for those who have retired, there should be a bond to be issued to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to take care of them, but government has not done that.

“So, if we allow the commencement date to prevail, it would mean that our people who will be retiring from this month will be trapped,” he said.

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