Retirees in the country will heave à sigh of relief should a Senate bill seeking increase of initial benefits withdrawable from pensions from 25 percent to 75 percent is passed.
The bill tagged “Pension Reform Act 2014 (Amendment), 2022.” seek to bring respite to distressed Nigerian retirees passed second reading at plenary on Wednesday.
Senator Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko (Sokoto North) sponsor of the bill while leading debate on the general principles of the bill, said the bill seeks to amend the Pension Reform Act 2014, to provide for a definite and reasonable percentage a retiree can withdraw from his/her retirement savings accounts.
Wamakko explained that the Act in Section 7(1)(a) was amended in the bill to allow retirees withdraw 75 percent of their benefits.
According to him, the provisions of the bill seeks to also “provide for succor to retirees in the delay and other difficulties they stumble upon in withdrawing their savings from retirement savings account.”
He lamented that the inability of Nigerian pensioners to access their benefits after service had resulted in their suffering which, in most cases, led to eventual and untimely deaths.
“Mr. President, none of us can claim ignorance of the long-drawn-out anguish of retirees from the Civil Service, Nigerian Prison Service, Universities and Parastatals among other Federal Agencies in this country.
“These retirees rather than enjoy retirement after selflessly serving their fatherland, have continued to live in misery and pain, leading to diseases and even death, as they cannot easily access their benefits” he said.
The lawmaker explained that the Pension Reform Act 2004, amended as Pension Reform Act 2014, provides for a departure from the old pension scheme of Defined Benefits’, to the new Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) that established the National Pension Commission (Pen Com).
He noted that in spite of the amendments to the Pension Act, the legislation has failed to achieve its objective of solving the intractable pension crisis in the country.
“Suffice to say that the issue of pension Nigeria has more or less, turned a monster that has defied all efforts by successive governments to contain it.
“In view of the retirees protracted sufferings and pains who are equally Nigerians, continued search for a lasting panacea is a duty bound upon us and all others concerned.”
Read Also: Obaseki Mourns Passing of Comrade Ogbeide
He bemoaned the situation where pension administrators in the country benefit at the expense of Nigerian pensioners who continue to suffer neglect.
“These Nigerians who have retired from service after several years serving the nation are finding it extremely difficult to be the owners of their pension savings in this new arrangement.
“So, unless that law is made categorically clear that they can withdraw the 75 per cent which we are proposing in this amendment, then they can definitely have some relief as retirees.
“But Mr President, my dear colleagues, of what significance are all these huge assets and sums of money to the owners, the Nigerian pensioners who are dying daily of hunger, disease, and deprivation. I believe this is cruel and unjustifiably inhuman.
“You may recall that the DG Pencom proudly announced that as at 31st July, 2021, that they have an accumulated assets of N12.78 Trillion.
“So let the Nigerian pensioners feel the impact of the assets in the savings they have generated. But the true situation is that only the Pension Administrators a benefitting while the owners continue to suffer total neglect.”
The bill after scaling second reading was referred by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to the Committee on Establishment and Public Service Matters.
The Committee was given four weeks to report back to the Senate.
