Don’t assent to NASS workers contributory pension exit bill, PenOp urges Buhari

Owing to the country’s N10.7 trillion budget deficit, pension operators have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to decline assent on the bill seeking to exempt National Assembly workers from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Daily Trust reports that the 2023 Appropriation Law as signed by President Muhammadu Buhari is N21.82 trillion with a deficit of N10.782 trillion.

Against the backdrop, the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenoP) in a statement yesterday said “the exemption of any agency or group from the CPS has severe consequences for the nation’s struggling fiscal position and will potentially upend the retirement security of pensioners who have given their blood and sweat in service to our great nation.”

The Chief Executive Officer of PenoP, Oguche Agudah, had earlier at a public hearing said Nigeria’s huge budgetary deficit is a clear indication that the country doesn’t have the resources to return to the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

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PenoP added that the passage of the bill was shrouded in secrecy with very little engagement and input from critical stakeholders as it was passed during the National Assembly’s recess.

The pension operators therefore “call on the National Economic Council, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and all relevant government stakeholders to look into this anti-people bill and ensure that it is not signed into law.”