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Tag: pension law

  • Lagos Assembly to review pension law

    The Lagos State House of Assembly has indicated plan to add value to the state’s pension administration.

    Its Speaker, Mudashiru Obasa, made this known yesterday at a Public Hearing on a Bill for a Law to Amend the Lagos State Pension Reform Law 2007 in Lagos.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the proposed amendments are targeted at 22 sections of the 77-section law.

    The Speaker, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni, said that the assembly was determined to make the state pension scheme better.

    “We will ensure that enough funds are included in the budget to ensure that we have enough funds to cater for pensioners,” Obasa said.

    He said the contributions of the stakeholders would be factored into the final draft of the bill.

    In her contributions, Mrs Funlola Odunlami, the Director General of the Lagos State Pension Commission, said there were two sets of pensioners in the state’s pension scheme.

    She said the state paid its pensions promptly and had cleared a backlog of four years.

    “We are now on a smooth sail; the backlog that his excellency met from 2011- 2015 has been cleared.

    “Now, his excellency has said there will be additional funds for the next phase,” she said.

    A former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Television Mr. Lekan Ogunbanwo, advocated an extension of the retirement age of specialists in health sector from 60 years to 65 or 70 years.

    He said such specialists in health sector still had much to contribute at 60.

  • There is no contract staff in pension law, says PenCom

    The Nigerian pension law does not recognise anyone as a contract appointee, Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, has said. The Pension Reform Act (PRA) promulgated in 2004 was repealed and replaced by PRA 2014.

    Anohu-Amazu, who was  represented by Mrs. Opeyemi Abodunrin of the Public Sector Department of PenCom, made this known at a forum in Lagos. According to her, anyone working on contract or full employment, is entitled to be part of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    She added that it is an obligation for an employee to open a retirement savings account and have contributions deducted from his or her salary and the employer to make same contributions.

    She stressed that the  new pension scheme does not recognise anyone as a contract appointee.

    Meanwhile, Lagos State and its Ministries, Parastatals and Agencies (MDAs) have been called upon to look for practicable ways of incorporating its contract or temporary staff into the scheme.

    The call was made at a forum organised by the state Pension Board (LASPEB) in Lagos. Participants at the event, who were drawn from the government, pension and insurance industries, expressed misgivings over the neglect of several casual workers by their employers.

    LASPEB Director-General, Folashade Onanuga, said the state has called on Heads of MDAs to discuss the way forward on contract staff within the state workforce.

    According to her, the state Pension Law states that the Scheme is applicable to pensionable employment. She said this means that contract staff are not covered and there is need to find how they can be absorbed into the scheme.

    She said: “The state law says it covers only those in pensionable employment, which is permanent staff. In Lagos State today, if you are employed and given a letter of employment, which states that your employment is contract for a temporary period of two or three years, the central processing unit where salaries are paid will pay your salary, but automatic pension contribution deduction will not apply to you.”

    A participant from one of the parastatals in the state, Mr. Sarumi noted that it is abnormal for an employee to have been engaged for numbers of years and allowed to go without pension.

    He said, though the Pension Reform Act 2014 encourages voluntary contributions, employers should ensure that casual employees, who have been engaged for long period, are covered in the pension scheme.

    Section 1 subsection 1 of the PRA 2014 states that the objective of the CPS is to ensure that every person, who worked in either the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory, States and Local Governments or the private sector, receives his retirement benefits as and when due. It is also to assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age.

    Section 2 subsection (1) states that the provisions of the bill shall apply to any employment in the public service of the Federation, the public service of the Federal Capital Territory, the public service of the states, the public service of the Local Government and the private sector.

    Subsection (2) further states that in the case of the private sector, the scheme shall apply to employees, who are in the employment of an organisation in which there are 15 or more employees.

    Subsection (3) adds that notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2), employees of organisations with less than three employees as well as self-employed persons, shall be entitled to participate under the scheme in accordance with guidelines issued by the commission.

    Although the PRA 2014 did not address the issue of casual employees, Section 2 of the act expanded the coverage of the CPS in the private sector organisations with three (3) employees and above, in line with the drive towards informal sector participation.

  • ‘Ondo’s new pension law to be ready soon’

    Ondo State’s new pension law has gone through the third reading at the state House of Assembly. The law, when enacted, will enable immediate compliance with the pension contribution scheme stipulated in the new pension law, the Pension Reform Law (2014) .

    The Director General, Ondo State Pension Board, Jayeola Olowosuko, who made this known in Lagos said this makes the state to be ahead of many states in this regard.

    The PRA 2014 among other areas, reviewed the pension contribution rate from 7.5 per cent each by employers and employees to 10 per cent and eight per cent by employer and employee respectively.

    Olowosuko said the state is ready to comply with the new law. He also restated that the government will soon commence full implementation of the scheme.

    He explained that full deduction of monthly pension contribution will commence when October salaries are paid, noting that a circular had earlier been sent to staff to this effect.

    He said: “Ondo State government has commenced the implementation of the Pension Reform Act 2014 in phases. The first phase has commenced with employees employed in 2014. We have been deducting and remitting monthly contribution of these set of employees since last year.

    “The state has put in place necessary arrangements to ensure smooth running of the scheme. We have been sensitising the staff on the scheme. They understand the benefits of the scheme and are now ready to join.

    “We have, therefore, set October date as when we would begin deductions from their salaries while we also remit same to their chosen Pension Fund Administrators,” he added.

  • Akpabio pension law

    Wonders shall never end in Nigeria.  Akwa Ibom State Governor, Godswill Akpabio, recently signed into law an outrageous Amended Pension Bill, that would have  been effective June 1, but for public uproar. It is not as if this law is new.  We were told it was made in 2001 and amended in 2006 with the third amendment now signed into law before Akpabio’s decision to reverse himself.  The breakdown of this new pension package is as follows: N100m annual medical bill to be paid to former governors, and N50m to their deputies, for life! Even though some are known to have acquired mansions with public funds in juicy cities in Nigeria and abroad, former governors would still be provided with “a befitting house” not below a five-bedroom maisonette in Abuja or the state, furnished with an allowance of 300% of annual basic salary in every four years. For mobility, the ex-governor gets a new official car and a utility vehicle also in every four years. Because he should not spend a kobo of his own on fuelling and maintenance of the two vehicles, he gets a yearly allowance of 300% of his annual basic salary. He is also entitled to entertain his friends and well wishers with 100% of his annual basic salary.

    Because he is leaving power and opulence behind, he is awarded a severance gratuity of 300% of his annual basic salary. Included are also provisions of funds to employ a cook, chauffeurs and security guards at a sum of N5m per annum and N2m for their deputies.

    The bill is not done yet. Even after the death of the governor, the allowances continue. Widows of ex-governors would receive a minimum of N1 million a year for medical expenses, while those of ex-deputy governors would receive N500,000, for life!  Because his death is special like no other, the state shall bear full cost of his burial and pay a “condolence allowance” (whatever that means) equivalent of his annual basic salary to his next- of-kin.

    While we focus on the governor of Akwa Ibom State and the legislators for their extreme greed, naïve and insensitive pension scheme, the fact of the matter is that the same scheme is replicated in other states of the federation and, indeed, the presidency.  Imagine how much of public funds would be wasted on a former governor if he lives for 25 years or more on these outrageous allowances after the end of his tenure!  Why should a retiree who had worked for 35 years be subjected to excruciating verification exercises for a paltry sum of pension that cannot even take care of his medical bills, feeding and transportation for him and his family while a former governor who served for only four or eight years goes scot free with all the scandalous medical and other pension allowances awarded to himself?  It is simply abominable.

    That we have this kind of situation in Nigeria is not surprising. Although we say that democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people, we cannot say that our democracy follows this noble path for, at best, our own brand of democracy has been twisted to mean a government of the people hijacked by roguish elites, and for the roguish elites! This, in essence, shows that the problem we face in Nigeria is that of democracy. Surely, if we have a true democracy, there can be no way a governor like Akpabio would act like a monarch, and the president like an emperor. While we appreciate the positive contribution of Akpabio to the development of his state, we say emphatically that whatever contribution he has made to the state should not be a license for him to empty the treasury in order to take care of himself and his family for life, after leaving office. This makes Nigeria different from the rest of the world as a country where people take up elective or appointive positions for no other reason than to amass wealth.

    The allowances in the governor’s pension package are obscene and sinful when you consider them along with the general poverty in the country, the massive youth unemployment, the agonising cries of workers and pensioners whose meagre salaries are usually not paid in time or, in the case of pensioners, sometimes not paid at all. Yet this is a governor who does not lack anything in life, and can take care of himself and his family, for the rest of his life and for his next generations. His case and those of others who may be planning to follow suit are that of pathological greed, and a sin against the poor citizens of the state.

    The governor is however not the only person who has sinned against the people who elected him to serve, and not to cheat them. In this connection, we strongly condemn the indecent haste with which the Akwa Ibom legislators passed the outrageous executive bill. With such an act like that of the governor and the legislators, we can see that the expectations of such rewards in politics explain why politicians kill themselves by making elections a do-or-die business, like going to war.

    Above all, it is an unpardonable sin against humanity and especially the good people of Akwa Ibom State.   And when all is said, Governor Akpabio’s pension scheme for ex-governors and their deputies shows clearly PDP’s warped conception of democratic governance. It is welcome news that the governor is reported to have taken steps to repeal it. Kudos to the people of the state and Nigerians in general whose vociferous criticism of the law forced the governor to promise to repeal it. But it was a law that ought not to have been made in the first place.

     

    • Prof Makinde, FNAL is DG/CEO Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo, Osun State.
  • How Akpabio dumped ‘obscene’ pension law

    How Akpabio dumped ‘obscene’ pension law

    The opposition, rights activists and aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State fought hard to get Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio to abandon a controversial pension law, writes WALE AJETUNMOBI

    It was not a battle limited to the opposition. Even members of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), especially those who used to be his allies, were also involved in the battle, which eventually made Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio to abandon his “altruistic intention” of amending the state’s Executive Pension Act. The labour also spoke against it, but failed to carry out a protest aimed at getting the House of Assembly not to pass the law.

    Eight of the 26 members of the Assembly were against the amendment. But their voices were not loud enough to stop the bill from becoming an Act.    The House of Assembly passed into law a bill seeking a pension for life at a rate equivalent to the salary of the incumbent governor and deputy. The deputy leader of the House, Dr Ekaete Okon (PDP), moved a motion for the bill to be read the third time and passed into law. The motion was seconded by Mr Aniekan Akpan (PDP) member representing Ukanafun state constituency.

    The law also provides for the former governor  a provision for funds to employ a cook, chauffeurs and security guards at a sum not exceeding N5 million per month and N2.5 million for the deputy.

    According to the bill as passed, the former governor would also be entitled to free medical services for his person and spouse at a sum not exceeding N100 million per annum and N50 million for former deputy governor.

    The bill also seeks to provide for the former governor a befitting accommodation not below a 5- bed room maisonette in either Abuja or Akwa Ibom for the ex-governor.

    It also provides for yearly accommodation allowance of 300 per cent of annual basic salary for the deputy governor of Akwa Ibom.

    The former governor would also receive a severance gratuity of 300 per cent of annual basic salary as at the time the former leaves office among other things.

    According to the bill: “A former governor or former deputy governor who receives a severance gratuity under the provisions of the public and political office holders (remuneration) law cap. 101, laws of Akwa

    Ibom State, 2000 (as amended), shall not be eligible to obtain any other gratuity under the law.

    “Where a former governor or former deputy governor dies, government shall make adequate arrangement and bear the financial responsibility for his burial. Government will also pay a condolence allowance of a sum equivalent to the annual basic salary of the incumbent to his next of kin.

    “And provide one surviving spouse with medical allowance not exceeding N12million per annum. Provided that such a spouse was married to the governor at the time he or she was in office, and if a wife, had served the state as First Lady.”

    The former governor would also receive a severance gratuity of 300 per cent of annual basic salary as at the time the former leaves office among other things.

    A governorship aspirant of the PDP in Akwa Ibom State, Umana Okon Umana, described the pension law signed by the state Governor, Godswill Akpabio as obscene, provocative and insensitive.

    Umana stated this on Sunday at an interactive session with some Akwa Ibom stakeholders at the Sheraton Hotels, Abuja.

    Umana said through his interaction with stakeholders in the state, the people expressed their objection to virtually all the provisions of the law, as they described the legislation as self-serving and anti-people.

    He said: “It is surprising that in spite of a nationwide public outcry against the bill for the pension law, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly rushed to pass it within 11 days and the governor signed it into law with indecent haste within 24 hours without any inputs from members of the public who will foot the bill.”

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Akwa Ibom State described the law as criminal and fraudulent.

    Speaking at a briefing in Uyo, the state capital, the APC’s State Publicity Secretary, Samuel Udobong, said the bill was not in the interest of the suffering low income earners in the state.

    Udobong explained that the speed in which the bill became law had confirmed the speculations that lawmakers in the State House of Assembly were ‘bribed’ by Governor Godswill Akpabio.

    He expressed worry that despite the condemnation that trailed the bill when it went public, the house members still went ahead to pass it into law.

    The party: “It reveals and confirms the disconnect that exists between the government and the governed in Akwa Ibom state. While Akwab Ibomites are wallowing in hunger and deprivation, seeking simple bailouts of food shelter, clothing and job opportunities.

    “The government engages in scheming to steal the commonwealth, become richer and widen the gap that exists between the rich and the poor in our society. This is dangerous and we strongly condemn it. Therefore, we call on Akwa Ibomites to continue to rise against this law and insist that it is reversed.”

    The party went further: “Let us inform you that Akwa Ibom State Government is yet to pay Primary School teachers and other retirees of her civil service their gratuity, some from 2009. What is due for those folks is just pittance compare to the monthly income of the governor and the government.

    “Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has not cared to address the welfare needs of these citizens who have given 35 years of their lives to the service of the state. It gives credence to our long held position that this government is naïve and insensitive. They know no shame and care very little about what Akwa Ibom people think or feel about it.”

    Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State chapter, Civil Liberties Organisation, Mr. Clifford Thomas, said the law was unnecessary, considering the level of poverty among the citizenry. He said career civil servants who had served the state meritoriously were the ones who needed to be treated better and not self serving political office holders.

    Thomas said: “The new law does not serve the interest of the state. It has to be reviewed. If we want to amend any law or enact another, it should be for career civil servants. We should think of those who had spent their entire lives serving the state before thinking of governors or their deputies. The governor himself does not even need the pension.”

    A former Deputy Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Mr. Uwem Udoma, also described the new law as atrocious and ill-timed. He said the overwhelming majority of the people of the state would reject the law, if given the chance.

    He said: “I see a lot of greed in the framing of this particular bill. You spend up to N350m on four people, that is about N1.4bn for a year; and N1.4bn a year is almost equal to some states allocation for a month. The government can do a lot with N1.4bn. If you are paying four people N1.4bn a year and the population of Akwa Ibom is just 3.9m people, how then are you going to protect the interest of other citizens? How are you going to take care of the people if only four people would take N1.4bn? The amended bill is outrageous. It is not nice at all. The exclusivity clause in pension is not acceptable. If it is the pension law, it should be enjoyed by everybody, but this present amendment of the 2006 pension law that has been passed into law in 2014 has excluded so many people.

    “In fact, we are wasting a lot of funds that we should use to invest in agriculture, which we should use in establishing industries that the government promised, at least, one in each of the 31 local government areas of the state. The government is not doing anything about that.

    “If you go the Internet now, you can get the bill for yourself. That of Akwa Ibom State is almost 300 per cent higher than any other states in the country. I can say that as a former lawmaker. It is higher, it is outrageous; we do not accept it, at all. So, they are not correct.”

    Speaking with editors in Lagos on Tuesday, Akpabio announced that he was going to initiate a move to get the House of Assembly to dump the law and revert to the old one. He accused the opposition and aggrieved members of his party of frustrating his intention to standardise the pension law. He added that the truth was stood on the head in the bid to frustrate the law.

    The governor said: “The good people of Akwa Ibom State have been unfortunately subjected to the cruelest and most unkind political gimmickry in the history of our state over the amendment of a sixteen-year-old law. This tidal wave of propaganda, misinformation, lies, falsehood, mischief and cynicism, we fear, may already have sucked in some unsuspecting members of the public who lack the ability to appreciate the salient points of this law and its ennobling attributes (see box for details).”

    But for observers, what matters is that the governor bowed to pressure and the law is to be jettisoned.

     

     

    Why I’m reverting to the  old law, by governor

     Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, in a statement on Tuesday, explained why he is dumping the controversial law. 

    In the last few weeks, truth has come under siege by agents of falsehood in Akwa Ibom State. The good people of Akwa Ibom State have been unfortunately subjected to the cruelest and most unkind political gimmickry in the history of our state over the amendment of a sixteen-year-old law. This tidal wave of propaganda, misinformation, lies, falsehood, mischief and cynicism, we fear, may already have sucked in some unsuspecting members of the public who lack the ability to appreciate the salient points of this law and its ennobling attributes.

    Regrettably, one of the best-kept secrets in the political scene in Nigeria is that in Akwa Ibom State some politicians do not circumscribe their activities within the limits of morality and decorum. Some of them can abase the most hallowed and sacred things for their selfish advantages. The present matter is a case in point.

    The GOVERNORS AND DEPUTY GOVERNORS PENSION LAW was first enacted in 1998 as the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives) Edict. It was amended in 1999 by the Special Grant (Former Chief Executives (Amendment) Edict of 1999) and was retained in Cap. 122 Laws of Akwa Ibom State 2000. It was amended in 2002 by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2002, which was later repealed by the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2006 assented to by my predecessor in office on 26th April 2007.

    However, in the course of its implementation, We noticed a lacuna in the 2007 law, particularly on account of its open-endedness in the provisions relating to the medical expenses and provision of funds for the employment of domestic staff for the former Governors and Deputy Governors.

    Working with the House of Assembly, we sought to protect the law from abuse by putting a ceiling on the medical expenses for the treatment of these senior citizens of Akwa Ibom State. The ceiling, which was pegged at N100 million per annum for former Governors and N50 million per annum for former Deputy Governors, was never meant to be given either in part or in whole to anybody at anytime for any reason. It was meant to be paid to health institutions involved in the treatment of the former Governors or former Deputy Governors and their spouses. It was, therefore, deliberate falsehood and organized misinformation to claim that the said money will be paid to former Governors or Deputy Governors every year. This has never been the practice and the amendment has added nothing to give credence to this obviously politicized orchestration.

    Former Governors and Deputy Governors and their spouses who were not sick were not to receive a dime from the fund. These sums, which were for the Governors and the Deputy Governor’s medical treatment, suffered the most bashing from a mischievous vocal minority who sought to reap political capital out of it. In their frenzied desperation, they even claimed that the law was made for my personal benefit. They lost sight of the fact that I am not among the beneficiaries as I am not on pension.

    The other sickening claim was that we excluded some categories of eligible former Deputy Governors and Governors. This is absolutely incorrect. Since the Governors and Deputy Governors Pension Law 2006 referred to above, a new eligibility provision beyond just being a former Governor or Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State origin was introduced by the last administration whereby certain persons who served in these two offices and who would otherwise have benefited from the pension, were excluded on account of resignation otherwise than on health grounds, impeachment or holding office for a period less than three years. Section 3 of the 2006 version of the Law attests to this, and this provision, retained in section 3 of the 2014 version of the Law has attracted unsavory comments as though it was a new provision just inserted.

    It is distressing to all patriots in our state that this well reasoned and thought-out solution to an open-ended law, which common-sense indicates can be subject to abuse, has been cast rather as a problem by fifth columnists in our state. I share the sense of revulsion of all decent Akwa Ibom people in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in particular and the entire State in general at these politics of blackmail.

    I believe in the Akwa Ibom project as evidenced in my work in the state. I am under oath to protect the constitution of this great country, and this I have done to the best of my abilities. I am obligated by the mandate given to me by the good people of my state to do good to all manner of people and I have not been found wanting in this responsibility. This amendment was undertaken, with the patriotic understanding of the House of Assembly, in fulfillment of these articles of faith.

    I reject in its entirety the unwarranted condemnation of this altruistic amendment. I am deeply saddened by the vilification of the Honourable Members of the House of Assembly for undertaking a course of action, which we as a state, we should applaud. Truth has been under siege and today I have decided that we should lift this evil siege by proposing to the House of Assembly that the parts of the amendment putting a N100 million ceiling and a N50 million ceiling on the medical treatment of former Governors and former Deputy Governors respectively be expunged from the amendment. Let it revert to the open-ended situation inherent in the law, before the amendment. I will further advise, in observance of the articles of faith guiding the discharge of the Office of Governor that, through extant circulars, a  medical insurance scheme be put in place for the authentic and proper management of the medical treatment of former Governors and Deputy Governors and their spouses in order to ensure that the open-ended nature of the law is not abused.

    It is my hope that with the excision of these sections from the amendment, the agents of falsehood would lift their siege on truth and not distract the good people of this state from the task of the Uncommon Transformation of our dear state. Let them remember that I am not a governorship candidate. Instead of firing brickbats at me, let them tell the good people of Akwa Ibom State their plans for Akwa Ibom State.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I consider this case rested and I take solace and comfort in the immortal words of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, that “History will vindicate the just.”