A variety of issues are facing the pension and retirement sector worldwide, and Nigeria is no exception.
Some of the issues were discussed here very briefly. Discussing them in some detail but from different perspectives is important given the serious effects they have on the pension industry and the wellbeing of pensioners.
One of the issues in Nigeria is the loud demand for consequential increment on monthly pension for those on the DB system on the back of the N30, 000 minimum wage by the leadership of the National Union of Pensioners (NUP). It is unnecessary for now as negotiations on the minimum wage are still ongoing between many state governments and labour. When the negotiations are over and the outcomes firmed, NUP leaders can table their demand.
The NUP hinged the demand on Section 173 (3) of the constitution which says, “Pension shall be reviewed every five years or together with any federal civil service reviews, whichever is earlier.”
The matter of the stoppage of huge life pensions and other perks for many former state Governors, their deputies and state Assembly Speakers by the Courts, has captured the imagination of the nation. But what the Courts decided could be academic because state assemblies can neglect to repeal the laws that legitimised the huge payouts.
Another example of such issues is contained in the report of a committee appointed by the Bauchi State Government to verify the workers’ Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), which says it has detected 596 deceased workers on the salary and pension payroll of the government.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Adamu Gumba said: “in this exercise, we (have) discovered that 596 deceased officers are on the government payroll. However, we have immediately recommended to the state government that their names should be removed from the state’s pension and salary payroll.”
It is sad that the management of the personnel systems in the public and possibly private sectors of the economy have sufficient deadness of the mind to use the names of ghost workers and the dead for fraudulent financial gain. PTAD said in May 2019 that the Nigeria Police pensioners list had 4,000 fakes.
Given the apparent pervasiveness of that technique of theft and the reported saving of N700 billion for the Federal government from misappropriation by applying technology and public financial management reforms, it is hereby suggested that all the 36 state governments and the FCT administration should immediately conduct painstaking audit of their salary and pension payrolls with the aim of getting rid of inserted ghost workers and pensioners.
The outcome of such audits should lead to the prosecution of those found to be defrauding the governments through ghost workers and retirees.
The discovery of 596 deceased persons who were still on the salary and pension payrolls in Bauchi state pales into insignificance relative to the 24,000 detected by the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD). Both are by far less than the 120,000 deceased persons receiving pensions at age 120, or those who died 30 years ago, in Greece, one of the Third World countries in Western Europe.
The Daily Mail of the United Kingdom reported that Greek pension authorities blamed lack of computers to check the ages of people receiving the money. Families of the deceased pensioners continued to receive the pensions more than 30 years after the actual pensioners have died.
The pension crisis in France, which was triggered by the government’s determination to reform the pension system, is continuing. Despite the discomfort and irritation it caused for the French, it is far from being resolved. Chile is reeling from and struggling to sort out its long-running pension crisis. Chile’s pension is contributory, but its inadequacy led to the crisis.
Dozens of other countries around the world are in pension crises of different dimensions and severity without practical solutions.
