Labour, OPS differ on govt’s plans to borrow N17tr pension funds

By Bimbola Oyesola

Members of the Organised Labour and Organised Private Sector (OPS) has differed over Government plan to borrow N17 trillion from workers pension fund.

While Labour condemned the plans and considered it as plans by the 

36 States Governors to siphon the pension funds, the OPS said there would not be any problem as far as provisions of the PRA 2014 are strictly adhered to.

The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), lamented that the Governors, some of whom their States have not contributed a dime to the pension funds were now desperate to collect N17 trillion out of it to massage their insatiable greed.

The ASCSN Secretary General, Alade Bashir Lawal, urged the National Pension Commission (PenCom) not to release any money from the pension funds to the Governors under the guise of loan or face the wrath of millions of Nigerian workers.

According to the ASCSN citing information from PenCom, as at June 2020 only four States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory had reasonable level of compliance in pension fund contributions.

”Although 25 States have issued legislation on contributory Pension Scheme, only four States namely Osun, Lagos, Delta, and Kaduna are in high compliance of remittance to PenCom.

“In States that have Pension Schemes, retires are not paid their benefits two to six years after exiting service,” the union said. The ASCSN wondered what rate of interest would be paid on the loan, how would the loan be recovered, and what collateral would be provided. It expressed worry that Governors, some of whom collect about N1billion monthly as security votes could not plough such funds into infrastructural development but instead were insisting on liquidating pension funds of workers they have denied any meaningful dividend of democracy over the years.

“Besides, there are so many untapped natural resources in the states that the Governors can harness to generate funds for development instead of looking everywhere for free money to appropriate and divert for private purposes.”

“But the Governors should be told that the pension funds are not idle or free money, but are funds meant to pay employees their retirement benefits after serving their employers for years,” the union emphasized.