Executive Briefing
Elsewhere, workers look ahead to their retirement with joy. But not in Nigeria. Here pensioners are owed over N285 billion in liabilities. James Emejo considers the decision of the pensioners to mobilise themselves to vote against those who owed them.
The liabilities of the Federal Government to pensioners came to the fore again last week when the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and her Budget and National Planning counterpart, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, appeared before the House of Representatives in plenary.
Their appearance was sequel to the recent House of Representatives’ resolution summoning them to come and explain what the executive arm was doing about the over N285 billion liability to pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and over N174 billion owed those who retired under the defined scheme.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Pension, Hon. Hassan Shekarau, who moved the motion leading to the summon described the condition of pensioners as “alarming and embarrassing” and a breach the constitution.
He expressed worry that despite the noted challenges, there was no adequate provision in the 2017 budget to take care of the problem.
Senator Emmanuel Paulker and Hon. Toby Okechukwu, had also moved motions in the Senate and the House leading to resolutions calling on government to defray its pension indebtedness.
N54 Billion Controversy
It was, however, a pleasant surprise for Nigerians who woke up Thursday morning to read in the news that the FG had released the sum of N54 billion to ‘clear’ its pension liabilities to the CPS. This was announced by the Minister of Finance the night preceding her appearance before the House.
While some saw it as a welcome development, others saw it as a move to assuage the feeling of the lawmakers , given the anger among them over the issue of government’s indebtedness to the pension scheme.
On its part, the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, in a statement faulted the announced release, insisting that the “approval of N54 billion has not cleared FG’s pension liabilities”.
The pensioners also reminded the minister that even at that, “approval of payment is not the same as payment”.
“It will be good for the minister to tell us when the fund was transferred to the National Pension Commission, and when it will hit pensioners’ accounts”, they stated.
The statement also reads in part: “We also appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari for his show of humaneness and for the promise, through the Honourable Minister of Finance, that henceforth ‘the monthly allocation to the PENCOM based on the appropriation of 2017 will regularly be paid along with monthly salaries of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs)’, to avoid future accumulation of arrears.
“However, the NUP feels the compelling need to put the facts straight as the FG’s indebtedness to the CPS is well over N280 billion. Therefore, the release of N54 billion cannot be said to have cleared FG’s backlog of pension liability.
“It is a known fact that the FG has consistently under-appropriated for the CPS over the past few years as pension benefits have consistently been treated in installments as though it is a capital expenditure rather than salary for those who have served their fatherland.
“NUP has it on verified record that whereas the sum N93.067,441,000.00 was needed to service FG’s statutory obligations to the CPS in 2014, but only the sum of N30,582,553,824.00 was approved, resulting in N62,484,887,175.00 deficit.
“Whereas N98,705,155,450.00, was needed for the year 2015, the Budget Office only proposed the sum of N60,251,158,884.00 to the National Assembly. That alone was a shortfall of N38,453,996,566.00.
“The year 2016 was even worse asN91,914,899,000.00 was required, but the Budget Office proposed onlyN50,195,808,918.00 to the National Assembly, which also approved it, leaving a deficit of N41,719,090,082.00. Worst still, of the N50,195,808,918.00 approved in the 2016 budget, only the sumN18,823,428,342.00 or mandates for four months was released and cash-backed, while N31,372,380,576.00 or mandate for seven and half months was never cash-backed and released.
“Importantly, we are saddened that the FG is claiming to have cleared pension arrears when the mnister did not say a word regarding the over N174 billion owed pensioners who retired under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS). Does it mean that pensioners under this scheme have finally been condemned to life of eternal hardship, sickness, and untimely death?”
They warned that “the way retirees are treated would decide whether those in service and the younger generation would cue behind government’s anti-graft war or engage in looting to prepare for life after service”.
Udoma, Adeosun take the stage
It was a barrage of questions for the two ministers after their presentations. Mrs. Adeosun, however, gave an assurance that the issue would be resolved when a planned reconciliation and verification processes were sorted out as government had no resources to handle the liabilities at a go.
She said it would be handled over time.
Earlier in his presentation, the Minister of Budget, Udoma had said that government would constitute a special committee to evolve creative measures to raise funds towards resolving the huge pension liabilities.
Udoma said: “The committee is headed by the finance minister; it is to reconcile all the numbers to see how additional adjustments can be made to the 2017 budget.
“We don’t have the money and the truth is that we have to look for some creative ways to raise money after the reconciliation has been done.”
House insists no excuses for renege
But, while recognising the difficulties faced by government in a recessed economy, lawmakers rose in their numbers to ask that pension arrears be treated as a matter of urgent national importance.
In his contribution, the Majority Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ado Dogowa, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his efforts. He, however, told the ministers that it was not enough to say that government had no money, but to table the demands before the National Assembly.
On the released N54 billion, Hon. Toby Okechukwu, told the ministers that “there is a difference between release of funds and cash-backing of releases”, insisting that “while we hope that this N54 billion release was not hurriedly announced because you are appearing before us, we want to know when the much you have released will get to PenCom and pensioners”.
He lamented a situation where the FG treated pension in pits and bits as though it is a capital expenditure.
“No, pension obligations should be recurrent and in fact even be on first line charge because it is a kind of salary for vulnerable members of our society who have served this country”, he reiterated.
Standing with his colleagues, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, explained how he personally met with the president over the matter and how the president’ immediate intervention led to the release of N54 billion.
Dogara said the president kept his words when he promised to provide bailout funds to states for payment of backlog of salaries and would also keep his words to clear this pension arrears.
“I don’t know where you got the money to bail out the states from. But wherever you got the money from, that is where we are going to get the money to solve this problem. And for the ministers who are representatives of the president, I believe you won’t make him (Buhari) break his words because his words are cherished. I want to believe this will be the last intervention we will be having with regard to the issue of pensions in this country. That is my charge.” The speaker told the ministers.
We wait for you in 2019
When he was given the opportunity to speak on behalf of Nigerian pensioners, the President of the National Union of Pensioners, Dr. Abel Afolayan, who was also admitted into the House Chamber along with a number of the elderly retirees, thanked President Buhari, the House of Representatives, the Hon. Dogara for their concern over pensioners’ plights.
He, however, set the floor on a laughter galore when he told the ruling party to keep its promises as “2019 would soon be here”.
The octogenarian said: “2019 is coming. We have thousands of votes. Some of us have four wives and three wives, but I have one wife. We should start seeing the payment by next month”.
Although the mention of 2019 sent the entire House into laughter, it nevertheless sent the needed message to the politicans, especially the ruling party, that pension matters had become an election decider and that the senior citizens were now out to mobilise for or against politicians, depending on how far they go in paying them their benefits.
Quote
I don’t know where you got the money to bail out the states from. But wherever you got the money from, that is where we are going to get the money to solve this problem. And for the ministers who are representatives of the president, I believe you won’t make him (Buhari) break his words because his words are cherished. I want to believe this will be the last intervention we will be having with regard to the issue of pensions in this country. That is my charge.
