BusinessDay 11 Dec 2017

Monday 11 December 2017
This is M NEY
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BUSINESS DAY
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31
Plight of pensioners and moral
burden of those who should help
Ivor Takor, a legal practitioner and executive director, Centre For Pension Right
Advocacy recently reviewed the Nigerian pension system from inception, the plight
of pensioners, the legal and moral burden on federal and states governments.
Modestus Anaesoronye brings up the report. Excerpt:
In time past, Nigerians
were protected
from destitution and
poverty, through traditional
social security
system, which was based on
the concept of “our brothers
keepers” and was influenced
by and derived from both
culture and religious characteristics
of society. It was
largely kinship base. Unfortunately,
the traditional
system of social security,
where kinsmen built houses
and farmed for each other
and also provided for the
upkeep of the elderly among
them has broken down.
Urbanisation and industrial
culture are contributing factors
to the breakdown of
traditional social security
system.
The advent of paid employment,
introduced planning
against old age destitution
and poverty, through
the introduction of pension
schemes.
Pension is the most visible
Program of any social
security scheme, it is meant
to provide protection for citizens
from old age poverty.
International conventions
and standards, particularly
the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) Declaration
of Philadelphia,
the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and the
Social Security (Minimum
Standards) Convention
1952, establish the right of
all to social security and
expressed the responsibility
of national governments
and the international communities
to guarantee that
right in practice.
Nigeria has domesticated
these Conventions
through the enactment of
pension laws.Furthermore,
the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria
1999 as amended, envisages
a Nigeria where no one will
be neglected by the State,
thereby causing them to
sleep under bridges, beg in
streets or steal bread. It is in
recognition of this that Section
17(3)(f) and (g) of the
Constitution provides for
protection of young persons
and the aged against moral
and material neglect and
public assistance in deserving
cases or other conditions
of need.
In Nigeria, the first public
sector pension scheme
was the pension ordinance
of 1951, with retroactive
effect from January 1, 1946.
The law provided public servants
with both pension and
gratuity. Pensions Decrees
102 and 103 of 1979 were enacted
for civil servants and
the military respectively,
with retroactive effect from
April 1974. These decrees
whichwere later referred to
as the Pension Act 1990 and
the Armed Forces Pension
Act, 1990 respectively, remained
the operative laws
on public service (federal,
states and local governments)
and military pension
in Nigeria until they were
repealed by the Pension Reform
Act 2004in June 2004,
which was later replaced
by the Pension Reform Act
2014, in 2014.
The National Provident
Fund (NPF), which was
established in 1961 was the
first formal pension scheme
in the private sector. It was
largely a saving scheme
providing a one-off lump
sum benefits. The Nigerian
Social Insurance Trust Fund
(NSITF) established in 1993
took over from NPF and
commenced business in
July 1994.
Nigerian pensioners
have had a raw deal and
continue to suffer in the
hands of employers, who
are expected to protect them
against old age poverty and
destitution. Employers in
the first place, based on contractual
agreements have a
legal and moral obligation to
protect workers against old
age destitution and poverty.
Unfortunately, it is these
same employers who have
opened them up against
old age destitution and poverty
especially in the public
service.
The plight of Nigerian
pensioners can be viewed
under two eras. Pre pension
reform and post pension
reform.
In the pre pension reform
era, public service pensioners,
including military pensioners,
passed through very
tough times. The pension
scheme operational then
was the Defined Benefit
Scheme (Pay As You Go).
Public service pension was
unfunded, relying on annual
budgetary allocation
thereby having outstanding
liabilities, with workers who
retired, not knowing when
their benefits will be paid,
thereby leaving then in the
streets as destitute begging.
It was common sight around
Agura hotel in Abuja to see
military pensioners who
came from their home states
or who were unable to return
to their home states, waiting
indefinitely for the day their
retirement benefits will be
paid. It was a disgraceful
and pitiable sight to behold
senior citizens of this country
who had given their whole
active life for the development
of the nation and therefore
no longer able to actively
support themselves and
families sleeping in the open
under sun and rain.
Civilian public service
pensioners were not better
off. They also became destitute,
dying in droves as a
result of hunger and lack of
health care. The real shame
for the nation was during
the annual dehumanizing
ritual called pensioners
verification exercise. This
was the time when these
senior citizens were made
to lineup supported by their
children or relations to be
counted among the living.
It was meant to be a punishment
for those of them who
were still alive, for haven not
died like their colleagues
who had died without testing
the fruits of their labour
(gratuity and pension).
The administration of
public service pension during
this era was weak, lacking
supervision and regulatory
control. It was during this
period that Nigeria found
itself among the League of
Nations, that are classified
as “blood money nations”.
While others got there as a result
of dealing in illicit drugs
or criminal activities, Nigeria
was elevated to that statue
as a result of illegal dealings
with pension money; people’s
sweat, blood and lives.
It was the era when top
civil servants, with seared
conscience, were put in
charge of pension administration
in the Office of Head
of the Civil Service of the
Federation, Police, Customs,
Immigration, Prisons
and other Pension departments
in the Federal Public
Service. Their counterparts
were found in States and
Local Governments Pension
Boards. These criminals derived
pleasure in not paying
or under paying pensioners
and bringing them annually
to die on verification lines,
with the sole aim of attracting
public attention to the plight
of these senior citizens.
To be continues next week