Kwankwaso’s aide alleges N20b Kano pensions fund missing

State NLC rejects FG pension scheme

WORKERS in Kano State may soon find it difficult to lay claim to their retirement benefit as a whooping N20 billion pensions fund is said to be missing in the coffers of the state government.

Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is threatening to frustrate any attempt by the state government to replace the existing pensions administration with Federal Government pension scheme.

The state government had earlier hinted that N1.4 billion of the fund was used for the construction of one of the housing schemes for workers in the state. Raising the alarm on the missing fund, a member of Board of Trustees and Senior Special Adviser to Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso on Pension Matters, Alhaji Balarabe Ibrahim Gwarzo, said: “More than N20 billion pensioners’ money is currently missing in the pensions board and there is urgent need to investigate the matter”.

Gwarzo, while addressing Labour veterans at Kano NLC Secretariat, faulted the appointment of members of the pensions management board in as lacking the required knowledge and skill to manage the system. He regretted that several notices both verbal and written to Kwankwaso on the missing money did not yield significant results.

He said: “ In the first place, government did not follow due process as required by pensions law in the appointment of the executive secretary and the members.

The members are not pensioners and have not worked for at least 15 years as required by law. By law, the board members were supposed to convene monthly meetings with the trustees but were never done.”

Gwarzo, who did not mention those responsible for the missing money, urged the Labour leaders to investigate the missing link before the expiration of the incumbent government. Meanwhile, the NLC chairman, Kabiru Ado Minjibir, said the Congress has set up a standing committee to investigate matters surrounding the pensions fund, adding that any attempt to replace the current pensions system with PENCOM would be rejected.