States’ unsavoury attitude to contributory pension scheme 

Despite the perpetual frustration suffered by retirees across the country, it is disheartening that out of the 36 states of the federation; only seven are reportedly fully implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) launched about 19 years ago to address the plight of ex-workers. The revelation by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) speaks to the miserable life that awaits more Nigerian workers when they retire from office due to non-access to their pension. Millions of retirees are already in a pitiable situation across the country.

Besides, the distressing situation could negatively affect workers’ productivity and incentivise corrupt practices while in service, to the detriment of national development. Safeguarding the welfare of workers in their old age when they are inevitably out of work is the main reason the contributory pension scheme was put in place. By fully implementing the CPS, every state should exhibit its care for the future and welfare of its workers and their families. It is part of the government’s constitutional responsibility to safeguard the people’s welfare.

As part of pension reform in the country, the CPS was introduced under the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004 which repealed the Pension Act 1990. One of the objectives of the PRA, which was adopted by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in August 2006 for the states and local governments, is to establish a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for administering and paying retirement benefits for the public and private sectors at the national and sub-national levels. Subsequently, a model state pension law was developed for the states across the country to adopt and modify to suit their peculiarities.

The Acting Director General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworararan, at a quarterly consultative forum for states and the Federal Capital Territory Pension Bureaus, said only seven states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja were fully implementing the CPS, even as she disclosed that the total pension asset had risen to N20.79 trillion, The commission, in its website, listed the states as Lagos, Kaduna, Delta, Ekiti, Osun, Edo and Jigawa.

The revelation by Oloworararan indicated that no serious progress is being made about the number of states fully implementing the scheme. The second quarter report of the PenCom for 2023 which was released towards the end of last year listed six states ­- Lagos, Ondo, Osun, Kaduna, Edo, Ekiti – and the FCT as fully implementing the CPS. The report indicated that some states were at different stages of implementing the schemes while others continued with the old pension scheme called the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS). The report revealed that Delta State was substantially implementing CPS, unlike Anambra, Benue, and Kebbi which were doing partial implementation, as Rivers, Ogun and Niger extended their transition period to the new scheme. Bayelsa, Kogi, Abia, Taraba, Imo, Sokoto, Ebonyi, Nasarawa, Enugu, Bauchi and Oyo were yet to implement the CPS. PenCom said Jigawa was fully implementing the Contributory Defined Benefit Scheme (CDBS); Kano was partially doing so, while Adamawa, Gombe and Zamfara have not started implementation. The breakdown further showed that Plateau, Cross River, Borno, Akwa Ibom, Katsina, Yobe and Kwara were at the stage of adopting the CPS through bills in their legislative houses.

Indeed, retirees across the country are suffering, as their employers are not prioritising their plight. Even when states claim to implement the CPS, are the ex-workers getting their benefits as and when due?  After suffering trauma and frustration, about 335 ex-workers in Niger State were around July 2024 paid their benefits, 21 years after retirement. The Director of the Centre for Pension Rights Advocates, Ivor Takor lamented: “In some states, pensions are being owed for upward of 35 months. The backlog of gratuities is almost a forgotten case, while death benefits payable to the next-of-kin of the deceased public servants are not mentioned.”

In some of these states, retirees are reportedly being forced to part with a percentage of their benefits, especially gratuity, before they are paid the balance. This bribe is extended to the gratuities of those who died in active service, through their families seeking to collect the benefits.

It is callous, wicked, reprehensible and unpardonable on the part of the civil servants involved. It is also wickedness on the part of any government not to give priority to payment of entitlements of workers who died while in service and left behind children who must be fed, whose school fees must be paid, who must be clothed and whose health must be taken care of. In a sane society where public interest is the primary purpose of being in a position of power, the entitlements of civil servants who died while serving their country should be paid without any delay.

It is also deplorable that many states that refuse to give serious attention to the plight of retirees have life pension laws in favour of their former governors and deputy governors, which guarantee that the former political office holders maintain lives of luxury through generous pensions and other benefits. Besides, some of the ex-governors are still in government, drawing pensions and other retirement benefits from the states they governed just as they are also drawing salaries and allowances as either senators or ministers, while retired civil servants of their states are languishing in abject poverty and destitution, and even dying.

In a television show in August this year, former governor of Sokoto State and the senator representing Sokoto South in the 10th National Assembly, Aminu Tambuwal disclosed that he was receiving about N800,000 in monthly pensions from the state government. Presumably, other former governors on pensions are enjoying similar benefits. It is distressing that politicians who occupied public office for between four and eight years are getting this amount of money as pension in the same country where many retirees who served for about 35 years are being paid what cannot cook a pot of soup as monthly pension. The situation looked absurd to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Abbas who, when visited in his office at the National Assembly by members of the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) recently, lamented the paltry N10,000 in pension paid to some ex-workers in the country. He declared that the country’s pension system was not working to support the retirees.

For fairness, justice, and as a matter of responsibility, state governments should save the country from the embarrassment of their ex-workers becoming beggars, and destitute and living miserable lives after serving their nation for the best part of their lives.

Both federal and state governments should review upwards the amount paid to retirees. They should also amend the relevant laws and review the procedure to ensure that entitlements of workers who died while in service are paid immediately to save the families the trauma, deprivation and frustration that the loss of their loved ones could cause.

The pension commission must wake up to its responsibility of ensuring that pensioners get what is due to them and at the right time.

The governors should exhibit fiscal discipline and give priority to the benefits of retired civil servants. They need to investigate the bribery and other complaints in the payment of retirees’ entitlements in their states, to stop the vice.

The government should device new ways of conducting verification exercises for retirees that are less tedious for the elderly ex-workers and should vote enough money for payment of pension and gratuity, especially now that they get higher allocation due to the removal of fuel subsidy.