PENGASSAN Seeks Ways to Cushion Effect of Inflation, Devaluation on Pensioners 

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has expressed concern over the condition of pensioners in the country.

The association said that most of the pensioners have had their income eroded by years of economic down-turn coupled with inflation and devaluation.

Speaking at a One-day Summit on the Future of Pension in the Nigerian Oil and Gas industry, organised by PENGASSAN, the president of the association, Festus Osifo said that most retirees have been plunged into hardship and penury as a result of stagnant income they receive.

He said that the condition of these retirees have been further compounded by the volatility of the country’s economic climate.

He said: “Comrades, gentlemen of the press, today we actually decided to take up this issue, an issue that is bothering our close pension fund administration in Nigeria, because the reason is very clear”.

Osifo said that over time, after the new pension regime can into effect, “it was realised that there is some level of lacuna within the process, and within the system, that people that retired several years ago, under the defined benefits, their remuneration, or rather, their retirement benefit has somewhat been capped”.

He said that what that means in some organisations, is that their retirement benefits will stagnate except the management uses it’s discretion to raise it.

“Some of the management over time, they’ve been magnanimous to add little things to what the pensioners are earning. And we understand what inflation has done in Nigeria. We understand what devaluation has done to our remuneration,” he said.

He also noted that there are some gaps in the system that PENCOM should focus to ensure that those gaps are closed, to ensure that funds are truly sufficient to take care of the pensioners and those that will join them in the future.

The PENGASSAN president said that aim of the One-day Summit is to articulate measures and strategies to bring succor to the troubled pensioners in the country.

According to Osifo, the association intends to issue a communique on the outcome of the summit which will outline solutions to the present problem facing pensioners and pension administration in the country.

“At the end of today, the expectation is that we come up with aggregates of opinion. We will come up with a communique that we are going to use in engaging management of the respective organisations, and in engaging the operators of the PFAs across the oil and gas industry,” he said.