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Tag: pension

  • Ex- Nigeria Airways pensioners protest delay in payment of severance benefits

    Ex- Nigeria Airways pensioners protest delay in payment of severance benefits

    …Passengers miss flight over traffic disruption

    Former workers and pensioners of liquidated national carrier –  Nigeria Airways Limited on Tuesday staged a protest at the Lagos Airport over the delay by the Ministry of Finance in paying their N45 billion severance benefit.

    The former workers and pensioners numbering over one hundred blocked the busy Airport Road disrupting vehicular traffic.

    They marched from the Skypower Catering Company premises, one of the subsidiaries of the liquidated former carrier opposite the Nigeria Air Force Base to the section of the road leading into the General Aviation Terminal (GAT).

    Singing solidarity songs they carried placards with inscriptions conveying their plight.

    Policemen attached to the airport were on hand to prevent break down of law and order.

    The blockage of the road, forced many passengers to get on motor bikes otherwise known as Okada , so avoid missing their flight.

    The ex – workers said they were disappointed that despite approval by the Federal Executive Council, seven months ago, the Ministry of Finance is yet to release their money.

    The ex-staff carried placards with different inscriptions principally targeted at the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun whom they accused of being insensitive to their plight for refusing to release their entitlements.

    The placards read: ” Mrs Kemi Adeosun: Do not delay this payment further, It is a crime against humanity, Madam MOF: Did you misappropriate our pension money?, Kemi Adeosun, We demand immediate payment of our pensions, Mrs. Adeosun: Enough of the Rigmarole- pay us Now, Mrs. Adeosun: Your actions and inactions are man’s inhumanity to man and so on. They also chanted solidarity songs and echoing the name of the minister at intervals.

    Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Nigeria Airways Branch, Comrade Sam Nzene said the protest became necessary as he alleged that the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun was playing politics with their money.

    He explained that last year after the approval for payment was given, they were told that the ministry was ready to pay but were being delayed by the National Assembly as they were waiting for them to give the go ahead.

    Comrade Nzene added that to their surprise after a visit and discussions with the National Assembly, it was the Ministry that was dilly dally on the matter.

    “This is the third protest, we have been doing this since last year, even on December 19, last year, there was a protest in the Ministry of Finance when we shut down the place for  five hours and at the end of the day, they were called into a meeting and told that the National Assembly was holding our payment. This is the seventh month now after the FEC approved this payment”

    “Well, we went to National Assembly, we wrote to the senate president, we were told that there was nothing of the Nigeria Airways in the National Assembly that they have approved the money government sent to them for settlement of debts owed to civil servants and pensioners and contractors that these monies have been approved and released”.

    Comrade Nzene said many of their members have died while waiting for their pay package, adding early this year three of their members died.

    Also speaking, president, Aviation Union Grand Alliance, Comrade Lookman  Animashaun said they were tired of the bulk passing and insisted that the Minister of Finance should tell them why the payment was delaying.

    He noted that army pensioners have started collecting their benefits from the N2.7 trillion approved by the FEC and asked what was  delaying the payment of N45 billion accruing to them.

    “They are paying the salary arrears of army pensioners and contractors, were did they get money to pay those two, they should let us know, so to us, nothing is in the National Assembly because we have combed everywhere in the National Assembly, we have gone to the clerk, senate committee on aviation, appropriation, on pensioners, they said there was nothing like that and whatever they need to approve, they have done and that is why they are paying the other two components, the minister should come out and tell what the position is”.

    Three of the protesting staff collapsed during the protest and were immediately revived and taken away.

    Some families members of the ex-staff whose father/mother have died came clad in black clothes to show their support for the protest.

    Some of the placards read: ‘Adeosun: Enough of the rigmarole, pay us Now’, Mrs. Adeosun: Your actions and inactions are man’s inhumanity to man’, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun: Do not delay this payment further; it is a crime against humanity’, ‘Kemi Adeosun, we demand immediate payment of our pensions’ etc.

    However, he said findings showed that it was the ministry that is withholding the payment.

    It would be recalled that in September 2017, the minister of state for aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika announced the approval of N45 billion severance package for the Nigeria Airways workers.

    Speaking in Abuja on Wednesday, September 20 after the weekly federal executive council meeting, Sirika said the minister of finance, Adeosun, had been instructed to put the machinery in place for payment of the workers.

    “I’m happy to announce that Mr. President has approved N45 billion which has been confirmed to be the entitlements of these workers and Ministry of Finance has been instructed to pay the money. The ministry wrote…that they have received the instruction to pay these workers, and therefore, they are setting up the modalities to pay.

    “You should know it won’t be paid through my ministry before somebody will say I take some of it. It will be paid by the ministry of finance through a process, and that process will commence very soon,’’ he said.

  • Pension fund: Maina files N10b suit against Magu, commission

    Pension fund: Maina files N10b suit against Magu, commission

    Former Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT) Chairman Abdulrasheed Maina has sued Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Ibrahim Magu and the agency for alleged defamation of character.

    The suit dated January 15 and filed on his behalf by his counsel, Mr. James Onyilo, before a High Court of Justice, Lafia, accused Magu of granting media interview, which were slanderous, untrue and malicious.

    In the writ of summons, Maina’s counsel asked the court for a declaration that the interview granted by Magu on November 30 and December 14, 2017 were defamatory, injurious and intended to lower the reputation and integrity of the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of the society and brought him to public ridicule, odium, contempt and derision.

    He asked the court to order the defendants to retract and publish an apology to the plaintiff in at least three daily newspapers within seven days from the day of the judgment.

    Maina urged the court to restrain the EFCC boss from making comments considered defamatory to him.

    He asked for an order directing the defendants to pay jointly and severally N10billion  as damages for the publications.

    In the statement of claim, Onyilo said: “The 1st defendant (Magu), who has a personal score and vendetta to settle with the plaintiff using the instrumentality of the 2nd defendant  (EFCC), maliciously embarked on a campaign of calumny against the plaintiff.”

  •  Pension complaints and solutions

    EBONG: Dear Madam1, your column in The Nation of every Wednesday is really assisting pensioners.

    My name is Ebong. I attended a verification in Uyo Akwa Ibom State on February 7, 2017. My complaints are: the non-harmonisation and short-payment of my pensions.  I submitted all the required documents for scanning. Please  help me so that my arrears can be paid to enable me cope in this recession. My pension is not paid up to date. Thank you.

    PTAD: Your monthly pension has been harmonised and we recently paid six months of 33 per cent  arrears; the balance of 12 months will be paid subject to availability of funds.

    ANNONYMOUS: I am a retired 63-year-old military pensioner. I am sending this text in respect of Akinsoto’s comment in The Nation of Friday, June 2, 2017 (page 46) with the title: Pension complaints and solution.

    Akinsoto, also a NIPOST pensioner, emphasised that our military and para-military colleagues were paid their 33 per cent increment arrears at once not in dribs and drabs like that of NIPOST workers.

    I want Akinsoto to know that it is not true that Military Pensions Board paid our 33 per cent at once. Of the 53 per cent that we are being owed, 33 per cent arrears was paid to us in two quarterly payments as at 2015.

    The payment, according to the government, is expected to be completed this year. For God’s sake, a person who is expecting to be paid N276,000 at once is being paid twice quarterly. Can the money execute a reasonable project? What kind of country are we in? I have never seen where arrears are paid quarterly. We kept sending text messages to the Military Pension Board asking questions but yet no response. We served our country  faithfully. At the moment, we do not have the strength to till the soil. We are getting frustrated, but we believe that God will intervene in our case and all our entitlements will be paid at once.

    PTAD:The pensioner is a Military pensioner and not a pensioner eligible under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS). With regards to the 33 per cent pension arrears, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate recently paid an instalment owed to some of its pensioners. The categories affected are Police, Civil Service and Parastatal Pensioners. All pensioners under the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Pensions Department had already been paid the 33 per cent arrears in full since September 2016. The latest payment was made from the Service Wide Vote released two weeks ago by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF). PTAD assures that all outstanding arrears of the 33 per cent increment will be settled as soon as additional releases are made.

    MAYALEEKE: My name is Mayaleeke. My friend, Folajuwon, and I have the same problem. My federal pension under the old scheme has been stopped since June 2010. I received my last pension under the old scheme from the Federal Government in May 2010. They paid me N8,748,90 monthly without any increment of the past years. All effort so far has failed. Kindly help.

    PTAD: Mr. Folajuwon and Mr. Mayaleeke should forward their verification print-out and bank-statements from Januray 2010 to Date to enable us ascertain their claim.

    ADACHI: I am Solomon Adachi. My dad died in 2007 while with the Nigerian Police Force. I was verified since 2014 but up till now, I have not been paid.

    PTAD: Mr. Adachi should please visit our Head Office for the Next-of-Kin interview.

    MRS OLUYEMISI: My name is Mrs Oluyemisi, from Osun State. I retired in July 2015. I am yet to be paid my benefits. My question is: with two years’salary arrears, is it going to be deducted from the lump sum to be giving to us by our PFA.

    PENCOM: Good day, Ma’am. Please give us more details to enable us to assist you. May we ask: What kind of arrears do you mean? Promotion salary arrears or arrears accumulated due to unpaid salaries? Also provide us with details of your place of employment, PIN and PFA. Thank you.

    A NNONYMOUS: I have double PIN number. What can I do?

    PENCOM: Good day, Madam, Please write to the National Pension Commission, Plot 174 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja.  Make sure you attach evidence of your registration with both the Pension Fund Administrators. Thank you.

    ANNONYMOUS: Please we eed help. Some of us retired from the federal civil service between 2013 and 2017. We have not received any pension or gratuity since then. Some of us have died of frustration, while others are sick. We don’t have proper food to eat and we cannot send our children to school and meet other basic needs of life. Thanks. I want to remain anonymous.

    PENCOM: Sir, provide us with your PIN, place of employment, dates of employment and retirement to enable us to ascertain the status of your benefits. Thank you.

     

  • Pension complaints and solutions

    DIOKA: Dear Omobola, my old mother, Elizabeth, who retired as a primary school teacher in 1984 (Imo State), is paid a monthly pension of less than N3000.  Can you believe it? What can N3000 purchase in today Nigeria? The pension is not even regular. It sometimes comes only when the Paris Club Fund is paid to states. Please help press on the government  to do a comprehensive review of the pension law, especially to make state governments set up pension commissions in their states. Thank you. Chukwuma Dioka, Imo State.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently, every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

     Okimba: Dear Omobola, my father died on July 10, 2005. He served last at the Police Mobile Force 26 Uyo as a police inspector. His name is Okimba. I did all that was required  for his gratuity to be paid in 2006, but response proved abortive. Later in March 2015, I attended the second police pension verification exercise and did image capturing at PTAD Maitama, Abuja, where all necessary documents were successfully submitted as required by screening committee as the next of kin. But up till date no payment. Please help me out of this distress situation.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

    OWARI: I am an aggrieved man. I retired from paramilitary custom marine department. I was employed in November 27, 1974 and retired in January 1, 2004. I am sending this short message to remind the PTAD of the non-payment of my pension. My complain is that since January 1, 2004 till date my pension subsistence allowance from the sinking fund, both arrears and regular monthly payment, has not yet being paid to me. I have been verified and captured on April 14,  2014 at (CIPO) Gwagwalada Abuja and was issued my capturing number. Since then nothing has been done till date. Besides, I was also verified and captured at pension transitional arrangement directorate, where I was also issued with pensioner’s verification acknowledgement form of personal data pensioner number. Please help me. I need my entitlements.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

    RUMIN: My complaints is non-payment of my late father’s gratuity from police pension. I am the son and next of kin to the late Inspector Akpagher, who died in June 2005. Since then I have not received a kobo as his pension benefits. I followed the due process by attending all verification exercises where I provided all documents and information necessary, but I am yet to receive my late father’s gratuity. I am, therefore, appealing  to the authority concerned to consider my plight and assist me to receive my late father’s gratuity.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

    ADEGOKE: Dear omobola, my name is Adegoke. I retired from Customs in 2007. I want to know when pension issue of 20.37 per cent being the balance of 53.37 per cent of 2010 pension increase arrears from July 2010 to date will be addressed and cleared. Arrears of 33 per cent out of the 53.37 per cent pension increase of July 2010 has been defrayed by the PTAD in year 2016. Leaving the balance of 20.37 per cent arrears from July 2010 to date unpaid. What is  responsible for the non-payment? Could it be as a result of budgetary constraints? What has scaled down to pensioners disadvantage the year 2010 pension increase from 53.37 per cent to 33 per cent? Has the arrangement reached advance stage towards payment of the 20.37 per cent arrears and when will it be paid? Please PTAD pay pensioners this arrears of 20.37 per cent from July 2010 to date to put smile on our faces or explain lucidly the true and proper position of  this matter to us. Thanks.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

    IGBO: I retired in 1994. My Federal pension as at October 2010 was N13, 866. It was cut down to N4,164.00 after a lump sum payment of N309,000 in December 2012. My pension complaint appeared in The Nation newspaper. Wednesday 13/12/2017. I have made the documents you requested available to the commission more than 10 times. I have made two personal representations at the commission. I was not told what was wrong only to wait since 2010. I was present at the verification exercise here in Owerri, Imo State in 2015, yet I continue to cry as the delay continues and I continue to suffer. The documents are all there in your office.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

    BABATUNDE: My name is Babatunde, I retired from NIPOST in July 23, 2005. My contribution in the Contributory Scheme is up to N46,338.92  of which I have applied for, up till now, I am yet to be paid. My pay slips photocopies were forwarded to the PTAD in Abuja.

    THE NATION: The newspaper will intervene. Do await response from PTAD. Watch out for the newspaper next week for your response and subsequently every Wednesday as we update you with pension news.

  • Pension complaints and solutions

    ANONYMOUS: I have double pin number. What can I do?

    PENCOM: Good day Sir. Please write a formal complaint, addressing it to the National Pension Commission, Plot 174 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja. Please ensure to attach evidence of registration with both Pension Fund Administrators. Thank you.

    ANONYMOUS: Good day, please we need help. We retired from the Federal Government civil service. Some of us retired between 2013 and 2017 respectively. We have not received any pension or gratuity. Some of us have died of frustration, while some are sick. We don’t have proper food to eat and we cannot send our children to school and meet other basic needs of life. Thanks. I want to remain Anonymous.

    PENCOM: Sir, please provide us with your PIN, place of employment, dates of employment and retirement; for us to ascertain the status of your benefits. Thank you.

    SAHEED: Dear Sir/Ma, my name is Saheed. I have part of my pension with NSITF/NPF. In my Sterling bank account, I have N87,454.82. Please note that not a single kobo has been paid from their office on Ikorodu road to Elephant House, Alausa, where I was asked to open an account with Zenith with all documents, but I was still not paid. I travelled to Abuja office labour house still no show. Please kindly help me since this fund had been hanging somewhere since 2004. By now, under normal circumstances, the money would have generated returns for 13 years. Thank you for taking time to read my story.

    PENCOM: Good day Sir. Can you please give us clearer details of your issue? Thank you.

    EBONG: Dear Sir, your column in The Nation of Wednesday July 5th is earnestly assisting pensioners. My name is Ebong. I attended a verification exercise in Uyo Akwa Ibom State on February 7, 2017. My complaint is non harmonisation and short payment of my pensions.  I submitted all the required documents for scanning. Please kindly help me so that my arrears can be paid to enable me cope in this recession period. My pension is paid up to date. Thank you.

    PTAD OKONDO: Your monthly pension has been harmonised and we recently paid six months of 33 per cent  arrears, the balance of 12 months will be paid subject to availability of funds.

    ANONYMOUS: I am a 63-year-old military pensioner. I am sending this text in respect of Akinsoto comment in The Nation Friday June 2, 2017 page 46 with the tittle pension complaints and solution. Akinsoto also a NIPOST pensioner where he emphasised that our military and para military colleagues were paid there 33 per cent increment arrears at once not in dribs and drabs like that of NIPOST. I want Akinsoto to know that it is not true that military pension paid our 33 per cent at once. Out of the 53 per cent that we are being owed, 33 per cent arrears is paid to us in two quarterly payment as of 2015. The payment of that according to government is expected to finish this year.

    For God’s sake a person, who is expecting to be paid N276,000 at once, is being paid twice quarterly (in dribs and drabs). Can the money do a reasonable project? What kind of country are we in? I have never seen where arrears are being paid quarterly.  We kept sending text messages to the military pension board, asking questions but no response. We serve our country with truthfulness and faithfulness, but we do not have the strength to till the soil. We are getting frustrated, but we believe that God  will intervene in our case and all our entitlements will be paid at once.

    PTAD OKONDO: The pensioner is a military pensioner and not a pensioner eligible under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS). With regards to the 33 per cent pension arrears, the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate recently paid an instalment owed to some of its pensioners. The categories affected are Police, Civil Service and Parastatal Pensioners. All pensioners under the Customs, Immigration and Prisons Department had already been paid the 33 per cent arrears in full since September 2016.

    The latest payment was made from the Service Wide Vote released two weeks ago by the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF). PTAD assures that all outstanding arrears of the 33 per cent increment will be settled as soon as additional releases are made.

     

    MAYALEEKE: My Federal pension under the old scheme has been stopped since June 2010. I received my last pension under the old scheme from the Federal Government in May 2010. They paid me N8,748,90, per month without any increment of the past years. My name is Mayaleeke. My friend, Folajuwon has the same problem. All effort so far has failed. kindly help.

    PTAD OKONDO: Mr. Folajuwon and Mr. Mayaleeke should forward their verification print-out and bank-statements from Jan, 2010 to date to enable us ascertain their claim.

  • Re: Much ado about proposed Pension Act amendment

    I read with interest the publication with the above title published in The Nation of Monday, September 11, and marveled at why anybody would argue against the proposed amendment of some sections of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, which is intended to address the plight of retirees.

    One of the proposed amendments of utmost concern to me is the payment of 75% lump sum and the comments credited to the President of Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), Abel Afolayan to wit: “We are aware of the bills seeking to revise certain portions of the PRA 2014. Our position is that it is too early to revise the Act. The PRA 2004 was revised and repealed into PRA 2014 and we believe it should be allowed to run for sometime. When we fully explore the provisions, we can then know the sections that are due for revision”.

    “In the case of the 75% lump sum bill, for instance, we believe that it will not be in the best interest of the retirees. This is because when a retiree is allowed to pull out 75% lump sum from his RSA, the remainder 25% will not be enough to provide monthly or quarterly pension payments and as such will be back to the problem of old age poverty”.

    I wish to ask if it must take a decade to review a section of an Act that is not serving its intended purpose, which should be for the interest of the retirees/pensioners. It is most unfair for the PFAs to be enjoying 75% of pensioners’ funds carting away huge returns on investments for their owners while the pensioners who ought to benefit from the contributory pension scheme suffer with miserable monthly pension amounts.

    Where those who argue against 75% lump sum got it all wrong is that, they believe retirees are far spent and cannot manage any business of their own; therefore they are only good to receive monthly stipends until death speedily come calling.

    Most pensioners were retired in their late 40s or early 50s. They are still very young, active and energetic to fend for themselves and their families, especially as most of their children are still in secondary schools, universities and other tertiary institutions of learning. Experiences garnered by the pensioners over the years of active service when employed in productive capacity would not only add to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), they will also be employers of labour thereby reducing the level of unemployment in the country.

    Most politicians who occupy positions of leadership and authority as president, governors, senators, House of Representative members, ministers, commissioners, etc. are above 60 years of age; yet they discharge their duties, make important decisions and evolve policies for the good of the society. The retirees should be paid their 75% lump sum so that they can put it to productive use. This will enable them to have substantial and adequate funds free from any cost to commence their businesses and take care of their basic domestic needs which include food, shelter, clothing, school fees for their children, etc.

    We all know that it is impossible for retirees to source funds from any financial institution to establish any business given the unfavorable and stringent lending criteria. So, why keep greater part of a pensioner’s retirement savings, which is designed to kick-start his business with a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), who will be handing down some miserable amount every month to the retiree in the name of monthly pension, when he can manage his funds and not only better his estate but also become an employer of labour and add to the country’s GDP?

    This injustice is likened to a debtor who deliberately pays his creditor in bits instead of in bulk as appropriate.

    The contributory pension scheme as the name implies is a savings scheme, which ought to be used to commence a new life after retirement. An inactive person with the present miserable pension amount soon dies out of poverty, frustration and misery.

    The fear that payment of 75% lump sum would have ripple effect and cause financial shakeup is unfounded and does not hold water, because the funds would be paid out through the financial institutions (banks) to accounts of retirees held in the commercial banks. The retirees would withdraw the funds from their accounts according to their needs and thus funds are injected into the economy as productive capital for economic activities, which will further galvanize the country’s productive capacity and invariably boost our GDP. Thereafter, the funds would ultimately get back into the financial system in the normal cycle of velocity of money.

    Also, the regular monthly pension contributions from employers and employees of the public and organized private sectors will continue to replenish the pool.

    Pension contributions are warehoused with Pension Funds Custodians, mostly banks from where the funds are invested to yield returns for stakeholders. Pension Fund Administrators should guard against any envisaged effect of divestment from government securities before maturity, by ensuring that the proportion of pension funds invested in treasury bills, certificates and bonds are spread in such tenor intervals as to ensure quick conversion to cash. This will enable the PFA’s to quickly raise adequate funds to accommodate certain ratio of obligation to the pensioners, no matter the quantum without affecting maturity of investments. Acid Test Ratio should be observed by PFAs in their portfolio mix, to eliminate any threat of financial shocks under any circumstances and at all times. In fact, the PFAs should start now to accumulate funds from monthly contributions to meet payment of 75% lump sum before the proposed bills are passed into law.

    PenCom argued that it is trite that lump sum should not be fixed. Rather, what should be implemented is a minimum replacement ratio as monthly pensions. This is said to be 50% of last pay. Is the present 25% lump sum not fixed? Of course it is, as would the 75% when passed into law.

    As a pensioner under the present scheme, I do not receive up to 30% of my last pay as monthly pension.

    Presently, pensioners are witnessing old age poverty, dependency, insecurity and misery. He who is on the ground need not to fear a fall, rather what is uppermost in his/her mind is how to get up. Payment of 75% lump sum is the springboard that will give the pensioner/retiree the leverage to stand up and start all over again.

    Catering for old age therefore includes payment of 75% lump sum, to enable pensioners start a new business life.  Fifty) to 55 years old person is still very active, with a whole lot of experiences garnered during active service years to make success of his/her business with funds from his RSA, which is devoid of any cost of funds or interest element.

    For an individual who earned about N91, 000 as monthly basic salary, excluding other allowances while in active service and at retirement receives approximately N24, 000 as monthly pension, is he not impoverished already? If he/she still has a child in the university, would N24, 000 monthly pensions pay the child’s school fees, feed the family in a month and accommodate other domestic needs?

    Why didn’t the pension scheme operators and regulators deem it fit all these years to ensure that the minimum pension guarantee framework as stipulated in the PRA 2014 was set-up and funded to alleviate the pensioners situation?

    Must this kind of situation arise before such laudable provisions of the act are considered, articulated and put in place by the operators and regulators of the scheme for the benefit of the pensioners?

    It is expected that the Pension Fund Administrators would oppose the proposed bills because they are the ones benefiting from the status-quo. They would rather have 100% of contributions in retirees RSAs and make astronomic returns for their owners every financial year, to the detriment of the pensioners who are paid miserable monthly pensions and denied the opportunity of owning their own businesses due to lack of capital.

    For foreign investors to have invested heavily in some major PFAs is an indication of high rate of returns on investment for operators of the PFAs, all to the disadvantage of the pensioners who are condemned to old age poverty and consequent death by the status quo.

    What needs to be done is to prepare would be retirees for life after retirement, by organizing workshops and seminars where they would learn trades, acquire skills and managerial capabilities that would set them on the part of entrepreneurship to own their own businesses. One to two months should be dedicated to this training before retirement, to adequately prepare and equip the retirees with the proper mindset to succeed in any chosen field of endeavor as entrepreneurs. The Industrial Training Fund (ITF) should pay attention in this direction and collaborate with government departments, agencies, ministries and private sector organizations to achieve the desired results in this regard.

    The federal government is constantly seeking avenues to raise funds for our SMEs at single digit interest. This problem would be solved to a greater extent with payment of 75% lump sum, which is free from any cost of funds.

    On the other bill seeking to open at least one branch in each geo-political zone, to make it easy for pensioners to access their PFAs, it is a welcome development. This will bring the services closer to retirees who have limited funds to embark on several fruitless trips in pursuit of their entitlements.

     

    • Obi writes from Umueze Village, Aguata Local Government Area, Anambra State.

  • Pension fraud: AGF seeks Maina’s arrest

    •Minister urges dismissal of suit challenging bench warrant

    Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation ( AGF ) Abubakar Malami (SAN) has asked a Federal High Court in Kaduna to declined jurisdiction over a suit by embattled former chairman of the Presidential Pension Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, challenging the arrest warrant issued against him by an Abuja court.

    Malami urged the court to dismiss the suit and allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the government agency that got the arrest warrant, to proceed with Maina’s arrest and prosecution.

    The AGF told the court that granting any of the reliefs sought in the suit by Maina will do incalculable and permanent damages to the nation’s fight against corruption as well as reverse all gains made so far.

    Malami spoke in court processes he filed in response to the suit filed by Maina. The suit has the EFCC, AGF, Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives as respondents.

    It basically challenges the legitimacy of the arrest warrant got against him by the EFCC and the commission’s decision to declare him wanted based on the said order issued by a Magistrate’s Court in Abuja.

    It is Maina’s contention that the EFCC was an illegal body, on the grounds that  law setting it up – the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 – was an illegal legislation, the amendment of its principal Act having not been allegedly effected by the National Assembly.

    He claimed that the principal Act – the EFCC Act 2002 – was amended as EFCC Act 2004 unilaterally by then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    He argued that since the President lacked the constitutional powers to unilaterally alter any law made by the legislature, the EFCC Act 2004, allegedly altered by President Obasanjo, becomes illegal and void and on which the EFCC cannot rely to act, including declaring him wanted.

    Maina, among others, urged the court, in his originating summons, “to hold that the plaintiff (he) cannot be declared wanted or arrested by any government agency invoking the powers of the EFCC Act 2004 for the same (the law) being an illegal enactment”.

    However, the AGF, in his counter affidavit, argued that “since a court of law cannot shield any person from arrest, investigation and possible prosecution, the plaintiff (Maina) cannot claim to have any legal right in an effort to stop any subsequent arrest, investigation and prosecution”.

    Malami faulted Maina’s claim about the enactment of the EFCC Act 2004, insisting that it was validly passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

    He challenged the competence of the suit in an objection he filed.

    He urged the court to decline jurisdiction because the suit was wrongly commenced.

    The AGF also described the suit as an abuse of court process on the grounds that Maina had filed a similar suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    Further proceedings will resume in the case on January 15, 2018.

  • Pension fraud: AGF seeks arrest, prosecution of Maina

    Pension fraud: AGF seeks arrest, prosecution of Maina

    •Minister urges dismissal of suit challenging bench warrant

    Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) Abubakar Malami (SAN) has asked a Federal High Court in Kaduna to declined jurisdiction over a suit by embattled former chairman of the Presidential Pension Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, challenging the arrest warrant issued against him by an Abuja court.

    Malami urged the court to dismiss the suit and allow the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the government agency that got the arrest warrant, to proceed with Maina’s arrest and prosecution.

    The AGF told the court that granting any of the reliefs sought in the suit by Maina will do incalculable and permanent damages to the nation’s fight against corruption as well as reverse all gains made so far.

    Malami spoke in court processes he filed in response to the suit filed by Maina. The suit has the EFCC, AGF, Senate President and Speaker, House of Representatives as respondents.

    It basically challenges the legitimacy of the arrest warrant got against him by the EFCC and the commission’s decision to declare him wanted based on the said order issued by a Magistrate’s Court in Abuja.

    It is Maina’s contention that the EFCC was an illegal body, on the grounds that  law setting it up – the EFCC Establishment Act 2004 – was an illegal legislation, the amendment of its principal Act having not been allegedly effected by the National Assembly.

    He claimed that the principal Act – the EFCC Act 2002 – was amended as EFCC Act 2004 unilaterally by then President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    He argued that since the President lacked the constitutional powers to unilaterally alter any law made by the legislature, the EFCC Act 2004, allegedly altered by President Obasanjo, becomes illegal and void and on which the EFCC cannot rely to act, including declaring him wanted.

    Maina, among others, urged the court, in his originating summons, “to hold that the plaintiff (he) cannot be declared wanted or arrested by any government agency invoking the powers of the EFCC Act 2004 for the same (the law) being an illegal enactment”.

    However, the AGF, in his counter affidavit, argued that “since a court of law cannot shield any person from arrest, investigation and possible prosecution, the plaintiff (Maina) cannot claim to have any legal right in an effort to stop any subsequent arrest, investigation and prosecution”.

    Malami faulted Maina’s claim about the enactment of the EFCC Act 2004, insisting that it was validly passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

    He challenged the competence of the suit in an objection he filed.

    He urged the court to decline jurisdiction because the suit was wrongly commenced.

    The AGF also described the suit as an abuse of court process on the grounds that Maina had filed a similar suit before the Federal High Court, Abuja.

    Further proceedings will resume in the case on January 15, 2018.

     

  • NLC calls for upward review of pension

    NLC calls for upward review of pension

    Nigeria Labour Congress, (NLC) President Comrade Ayuba Wabba has called for an upward review of pension to help minimise the economic hardship facing pensioners.

    Wabba said this at the 16th edition of Pensioners Day Celebration in Abuja.

    He said the review of pension was long overdue, saying the federal and state governments had been adhering to the constitutional provision.

    “Section173(3) and 210(3) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Constitution 1999 (as amended) stipulate that pension be reviewed every five years or together with any increase in workers’ wages,’’ Wabba said.

    According to him, it is criminal that the Federal Government pays N4000 as pension to some pensioners in this harsh economy.

    “If we want a better Nigeria, then we must be willing to take care of our pensioners and workers.

    “Our country is so blessed with various resources, but it is a pity that we cannot account how it is being spent,” he stated.

    Wabba praised President Muhammadu Buhari for releasing the bailout fund to states to pay pensioners and workers, urging that the government monitors and makes them accountable on how the money is spent.

    He said government needed to take care of the security and welfare of its people to avert surmount of the security challenges in the country.

    NLC president appealed to pensioners to support one another, adding that the NLC will continue to show its support and solidarity.

    The Executive Secretary of Pension Transitional Administration Directorate, Ms Sharon Ikeazor, said the payroll for pensioners for December was ready and pensioners would get their pension before Christmas.

    “We got release to pay six months pension”.

    “For police pension, we paid them one year out of the 33 months and we just have a balance for 21 months for police pensions.

    “The government is making the money available; we will pay up,” she said.

    Ikeazor said the essence of the verification was to ensure pensioners were fully captured so that there would not be a need for them to come back again.

    She promised that by the first quarter of 2018, the directorate would pay the arrears of the 33 per cent increase.

  • FG to reposition pension administration

    The Federal Government said on Monday it was aware of the hardship faced by pensioners in the country and was “unwaveringly poised” to reposition pension administration in the country.

    Speaking through the Permanent Secretary, General Services in his office, Roy Ugo, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the federal government was committed to the improvement of pensioners’ welfare.

    He said: “Pensioners deserve better treatment and good life having served and retired meritoriously in the service of their fatherland. It is in this regard that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is committed to the improvement of the welfare of pensioners in this country.

    “Despite the challenges being experienced in pension administration in this country, government is unwaveringly poised to reposition pension administration in other to give pensioners the good quality life they deserve after retirement.

    “Government is aware that hardship being faced by Nigerian pensioners especially those that bothered on prompt payment of pension and is doing everything possible to correct the anomaly. It is never the intention of government to inflict hardship on its senior citizens.

    “You will agree with me that Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) has been working very hard to reposition pension administration. I therefore implore you to be patient with government. This administration is committed to moving the country forward and the faith and confidence that things will turn out good in the no distant time is not in doubt and so. We will continue to ask for your support, patience and encouragement.”

    Speaking at the event, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Abubakar Wabba,  emphasised the need for government to abide by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution by ensuring a constant review of pensions in accordance with the provisions of the constitution that pensions be reviewed every five years.