ASCSN urges govt to restore gratuity payment

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has implored the Federal Government to restore payment of gratuities to public service employees.

Gratuity payments stopped in 2004 when the Contributory Pension Scheme came into effect.

The association argued that since the 2004 Pension Reform Act was enacted, which was silent on payment of gratuity to workers, employees of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the federal level have been denied gratuities.

According to ASCSN, counterparts in government-owned entities such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as well as those in some state governments and private sector have continued to receive gratuities in appreciation of services rendered to their organisations.

The National President of ASCSN, Shehu Muhammed, stated this during the association’s fifth Quadrennial Delegates Conference in Lagos.

Requesting that gratuities to public service employees in treasury-funded MDAs should be restored without further delay, he said the gratification package, which has always been paid since the colonial era, served as an appreciation for meritorious service rendered to the nation by the workers.

The ASCSN chief also called on the government to include pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in reviewing pension increases.

Muhammed said this was necessary to enable them to benefit from such periodic rates like their colleagues who retired under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) in line with the provisions of Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution, which stipulates that “pension shall be reviewed every five years or together with any federal civil salary reviews, whichever is earlier”.

He maintained that the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission had issued circulars for the implementation of pension increases of 2007 and 2010 as well as the consequential adjustment of 2019 for retirees under the DBS, stating that the same is yet to be extended to retirees under the CPS.

According to him, the non-inclusion of pensioners under the CPS in the implementation of pension increases amounts to a fundamental breach and denial of their constitutional rights as provided for in Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution.

Following the new Minimum Wage Act 2024, the ASCSN urged the Federal Government that pensioners under the CPS should be included in the next pension review.