Workers To Buhari: Don’t Touch Our Pension Money

By Ayodele Oluwafemi

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC Ayuba Wabba, has urged the Federal Government to shelve its plans to borrow N2trn from the pension fund to provide infrastructure.

Wabba, at a press conference in Abuja, on Tuesday, said that the decision of the FG will be a violation of the Pension Act.

The labour leader said, “Government need to be reminded that the contributory pension scheme, which came into being in 2004, is fully funded by workers and employers and it’s privately managed by Pension Fund Administrators. The funds are in the individual Retirement Savings Account of beneficiaries.

“It is important to stress that the N10trn pension fund is not warehoused in   the pension commission which is the regulator, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Pension Fund Administrator or the pension fund custodian.

“The fund is warehoused in the private individual Retirement Savings Accounts of contributors, who are workers and beneficiaries.”

Addressing the intention behind the establishment of the Pension Fund, he said, “The pension fund administrators are investing for maximum return on investment for the benefit of the beneficiary and not borrowing.

“It is curious that labour as a critical stakeholder as provided in the act were not consulted. It is equally a violation of  the provisions of the Pension Act five years down the line, the board of PENCOM statutorily saddled with taking or approving decisions as weighty as this has not been constituted.”

He disclosed that states like; Borno, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Ondo,  Sokoto and  Yobe, as well as  the Federal Capital Territory have commenced the payment of the new minimum wage.

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