The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Joe Ajaero has advocated for a return to the previous pension scheme to ensure retirees’ financial security.
NLC President speaking at the 2024 National Pre-retirement Summit on Wednesday organized by XEM, Comrade with the summit, themed “Challenges, Strategies, Prospects, and Opportunities at Retirement in Nigeria.”
Ajaero stressed that the current pension system fails to fulfill its core purpose, exprand essed concern over the alleged significant pension arrears owed by the federal government and federal parastatals, totaling nearly N300 billion.
“Retirement under the present scheme may therefore become a death sentence for many and this has many consequences for behaviour of workers in active service.
“The federal government it is alleged owes nearly N260 billion in pension arrears, with federal parastatals accounting for an additional N40 billion. Some states have arrears stretching up to eight years. In the private sector, reports indicate that many companies are in arrears of up to three years, deducting contributions from workers’ salaries without remitting them to the respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs),”Ajaero said.
The NLC President noted that the currency in which pensions are stored has been a major issue contributing to the instability of pension values.
In their separate remarks, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, Head of Civil Service of the Federation and Senator George Akume Secretary to the Government of the Federation emphasized the government’s commitment to improving retiree welfare through various initiatives and partnerships.
The convener of the summit, Dr Eugenics Ndukwe, stressed the need for a supportive ecosystem to facilitate a smooth transition into retirement for Nigerians.
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