Pension: Why Niger example should be a benchmark

It was one a hell of a reform which served the intended outcome-purge the pension administration of all the agelong longjam and bobby traps. And as thew storm wears, the pensioners smile to the banks. It was a refreshing deviation from what has been hitherto, the norm. The pension reform has no doubt been one […]

It was one a hell of a reform which served the intended outcome-purge the pension administration of all the agelong longjam and bobby traps. And as thew storm wears, the pensioners smile to the banks. It was a refreshing deviation from what has been hitherto, the norm.

The pension reform has no doubt been one of the sucessess of the Governor Abubakar Sani Belllo –led adminsatration in Niger state from 2015  to date.  The state government under Sani Bello, has indeed  made giant stride in pension administration, confronting  the inherited challenges associated with pension   fom the previous  government with all sincerity of purpose.

There is no doubt that one of the complex challenges inherited by the present administration in Niger State from 2015, is the mounting pension and gratuity arrears owed to retirees in the state and government employment. The pension issue was a bobby trap with the state government initially at cross roads on how to navigate through the anomaly.

One of  the challenges inherited from the previous  government of Dr Muazu  Babangida  Aliyu is the issue of Contributory Pension Scheme CPS stopped towards the end  of the  erthswhile government of the chief servant.

The stoppage of the scheme,  creatied  a six years vacuum in both the employer and employees contribution to the scheme.

When this government came , it ws there fore confronted  with the problem of the status of the  contributors to  the scheme whereas the number of retirees continue to grow.  Amidst this in 2017 after several  consultation the pension law was reviewed to exclude those in the civil service before 1992 from the CPS , a step that was commended by all.

Accordingly the government of Abubakar  Sani Belllo through the dogged commitment of the Director General Pension Board  Alhaji Usman Tinau swung onto action to refund the contributions of those exempted,  that particular  action was unprecedented.

Immediately after the reviewed  law on pension was signed in the state ,  the Director General immediately put machinaries in motion with the Pension Funds Administrators and interfacing with PENCOM  to ensure refunds to those  exempted , both serving and retired.

And for those of us retired we were not  only refunded our money from the PFAs as retirees but we’re paid 30 percent of our total gratuities,  and enrolled into the monthly  pension . This particular smooth transition had once again showed that U T Mohammed has a deep technical knowledge  of how to take the state out of the myriad of inherited pension problems.

For instance when in 2016 the inherited  retirees liability was said to be over N4 billion but the Director General was able to look at it thoroughly and found out that it was inflated thus,  verified it and reduced it to just a little above N2 billion saving the state of over N2 billion.

In the same vein, UT Mohammed and his team were able ascertain that the CPS deducted from the local government  , and State universal basic education  between 2009 and 2012 were not remitted through the board to the CPS.  This made  the administration of Abubakar Sani Belllo  to engage a forensic audit firm that confirmed missing N5.7 billion. It was heartwarming the missing funds have been traced to some persons who should be made to refund same.

The discovery and reshaping of the pension administration  in the state has pointed to the fact that the government was committed to ending several teething problems associated therein.

There is no administration in the life of the state has invested in pension issues and work so hard to amelorate the suffering retirees go through daily like the present regime.  It is therefore surprising that  the organised labour that has been part of the  process for the resumption of CPS was  against it.

It is regrettable and  ironic  that the labour represented  by the NLC and TUC that signed for the resumption  of CPS  in the committee chaired by the Deputy  Governor  Ahmed Mohammed Ketso could turn around  and go against same decision which they were key  stakeholders.

It will be counter productive if organised labour should allow itself to be associated with the unfortunate attempt to malign the  person of  the Director General U T Mohammed, who obviously brought new leaseof life to pension administration in the state and chart a good course for the fulfilment of the campaign promise of Abubakar Sani Bello for competent management of pension matters in the state.

There is no gain saying that transparency has been introduced to pension administrationin the state, with all processes computerised inorder to check manipulations in the system.

With  not less than 22,000 civil servants in the state civil service  enrolled in the Contributory Pension Scheme it is very clear that the state government understand the enormity of the situation. And Bello must be commened for putting in place a management committee to ensure the safety of contributors’ fund.

It is heart warming to note that, instead of the 7.5 percent contribution by government , the state government is ready to now contribute 10.5 percent to make up for the gap the stoppage of the deductions threw up.

Dauda Abdullahi, Limawan Qtrs, Minna, Niger State.