The slogan: ‘rest is sweet after
labour’ is not applying to many erstwhile government workers, who served
the nation meritoriously in their prime but have now retired into
penury and hardship as a result of haphazard or non-payment of their
pension stipends, NIKE POPOOLA writes
Neglected after service
Abraham Adigun, 70, used to work in the
Federal Ministry of Works until his retirement nine years ago. In June
2015, he left his home in Osun State for the Pension Transitional
Arrangement Directorate in Abuja to seek solution to the problem he
encounters every month with regards to the payment of his pension.
The payment of his pension stipend was
stopped in 2010 without any explanation. The PTAD is currently in charge
of the payment of pension benefits to former Federal Government civil
servantswho retired from service before 2007 when a new pension scheme
was introduced. This old man had been weakened by illness but had to
fall back on a reserve energy that even he could not explain where it
came from to embark on the risky road journey to Abuja since he could
not afford any other means of transportation.
Adigun had torely on a walking stick on
which he balanced his gaunt figure as he entered the pension office to
lodge his complaint.
“I was employed and posted to the
Ministry of Works in 1980 and retired in 1998, after which I got my
gratuity and the payment of my pension stipends commenced. But in 2010,
my name was removed from the payroll for no reason and I have been
lodging complaints ever since.I have been asked to fill several
forms,yet my money has not been paid,” he explains while wiping his
brows with his right palm.
While pleading with the officers he met
at the PTAD office to pay what rightly belongs to him, he says life has
been very difficult for him because he can no longer afford to eat good
foods and pay his medical bills. The officers who attended to him in
PTAD gave him a complaint form to fill. They obtained all his details
and made a promise that his pensions would be paid the following month.
This was just their polite way of
sending away the senior citizens any time they approached the office
with their worries. Five months after, Adigun’s pensions have still not
been paid. Frustrated and looking dejected, Adigun travelled from his
base in Osun State to the headquarters of The PUNCH in Ogun State to
express his pains. He produced copies of the complaint form that he
filled at the PTAD office.
“I am suffering because I have not been
paid for five years and I am very poor; I don’t want to die without
getting my benefits. I have come to tell the whole world that I will
travel to the PTAD office in Abuja again; and this time, I will not
leave them until they pay me all my pension arrears,” Adigun says while
unsuccessfully fighting back tears.
Adigun is not the only one suffering as a
result of unfulfilled promises made to the retirees while they were
young and in active service of the Federal Government. Legally, the Pay
as You Go Pension Scheme entitles them to lump sum payment known as
gratuity when they retire, after which they are to be placed on monthly
pension stipends until they die. Unfortunately, this has not been their
experience.
The National Union of Pensioners says
that contrary to its motto that ‘Rest is sweet after labour’, rest is
actually bitter after labour for its members. “Unfortunately, it is a
curse to serve the government and retire in Nigeria because Nigerian
pensioners begin their journey to sorrow, hardship and suffering after
retirement,” an official of the NUP says.
Many senior citizens, who served the
country in their active days, have been neglected with many succumbing
to death early because they were denied their pension benefits. Their
inability to eat good foods and pay their medical bills seemingly pushed
them to their early graves. In the developed countries, retirees are
entitled to lots of social benefits such as free health care and free
transportation, among others.
The Nigerian pensioners are not asking
for such privileges; they are only asking to be paid their pensions,
which they say rightly belong to them. It is worthy of note that yearly,
the Federal Government makes financial provisions running into billions
of naira for pension payment, but these funds are often siphoned by
those handling pension matters.
Over the years, the pension data had
been distorted to make it impossible to have accurate information on
retirees in the country. While this and other worrisome practices have
been on for decades under successive pension regimes, the perpetrators
of the fraudulent acts have not been made to face the consequences of
their actions.
Unpaid retirees
Eighty-four-year-old Dr. Philomena
Odunsi retired in 1994 and was being paid her pension stipends regularly
until October 2009 when the payment of her entitlements was stopped. “I
did so many verifications with the government and I have been attending
pension meetings regularly but I have still not been paid a dime,” she
laments. While displayingher bank statements as evidence that she has
not been earning pensions, Odunsi complains of lack of money to eat
adequately, feed and maintain herself.
Mr. Olasoji Kabiawu, 74, worked in the
Survey Division of the Federal Ministry of Works before he got blinded.
“I retired in 1999. In 2012, they paid half of my gratuity but since
then, I have not been receiving monthly pensions,” he says sombrely. He
discloses that he is diabetic and is finding it extremely difficult to
pay his medical bills, adding that his landlord has ejected him due to
his inability to pay his rent.
Mr. Tabi Andrew, 80, who retired from
the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in 1990, has a similar tale to
tell. “They paid me gratuity in 2010 and stopped paying me pension
stipends in 2011. I have done several verifications and travelled to
Abuja several times yet, I have not been returned to the payroll,” he
explains. Andrew laments that life has been difficult because his four
children are jobless graduates.
Mr. Tajudeen Alimi, 76, joined the
Ministry of Defence in 1968 and retired in 2003. “I collected my
gratuity in 2003 but I have not been receiving pension up till now. In
2010, I went to Abuja to complain and they promised to pay but they have
yet to fulfil that promise,” he says ruefully.
Mr. Fidelis Akhirebhulu, 74, retired in
2002 from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and got his gratuity
four years after. However, he has not been receiving his monthly
pension stipends. He appeals to the Federal Government to come to his
and his colleagues’ aid as they are now seeing the other side of life.
“I have no money to treat myself. Is it when all of us die that they
will remember us? A hungry man has no friend at all,” he says amidst
sobs.
Both Mrs. Olubunmi Williams, 57, and her
73-year-old husband retired from Federal Ministry of Information. “I
received pension last in 2010. They are not paying me and my husband
pension stipends again; we are only surviving by the grace of God,” she
explains.
Fifty-year-old Mrs. Alice Olatunji old
retired in 2006 and got her gratuity a year after. “For nine years now,
they have not been paying me pension. I beg the government to pay my
pension arrears,” she pleads.
Mr. Mojeed Oloro, 80, is sick and cannot
walk without assistance. He wife explains that he retired from the
Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation and has not been
paid for eight years.
Mr. Ganiyu Fatai, 63, who retired in
2006 from the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports, is lucky to have
children who are old and caring enoughto help him in his hour of need.
Mrs. Are Safuri, 80, retired from
Ministry of Defence in 2005. She says, “After paying the gratuity, the
government owes me lots of money, because they have not paid me a dime
as pension.”
Mrs. Gladys Aberdeen, 82, retired from
the federal civil service in 1979 and her pension was stopped in 2010.
While presenting her bank statements, she says she now depends on her
children to survive even when she doesn’t want to bother them with her
expenses. “They were paying me pension but it became irregular in 2000
before they finally stopped paying me since 2010,” she notes.
Lingering problems
According to analysts, the way the
vulnerable old citizens are treated by the government reflects the low
value that is placed on human lives in the country. Some of the problems
confronting the Nigerian pensioners include non-payment of gratuity and
pension, and omission from and arbitrary delisting of retirees from the
payroll. Even those on the payroll are not happy because their pensions
are not regular and many of them are being short-changed.
The frustrated former workers in
different parts of the country have formed associations to fight their
cause by coming together to pray for God’s intervention, regularly fill
forms and take their complaints to the PTAD.
While addressing some the pensioners at a
forum in Lagos, the National President, NUP, Dr. Abel Afolayan,
highlighted some of the problems of federal retirees to include
non-payment of gratuities of pensioners from 1976 to date, short payment
and sudden stoppage of monthly pension stipends without reason.
“There’s breakage of pension payment to
some pensioners since November 2012,” he says, while lamenting the
non-payment of deceased pensioners’ benefits to their next of kin as
well as non-compliance with the constitutional provision of increase in
pension allowances.
Afolayan is worried about the
non-payment of the pension in May 2004 of federal retirees in seven
states by the defunct City Express Bank, which was taken over by United
Bank for Africa Plc.
Failed pension reforms
Despite different legislative reforms
introduced over the years aimed at correcting the abnormalities in the
Federal Government’spension scheme, it is sad to note that things have
not worked for the retirees. Some pensioners on the payroll earn less
than N1,000 a month, an amount that is not enough to feed a dog for a
week. Prior to 2002, the Federal Government used to release money to
some state governments on quarterly basis to settle their pension
commitments. However, since the payment of the federal share of pension,
which used to be the duty of the state governments, was transferred to
the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, the
problem has worsened for the retirees.
According to the NUP, pensioners who
used to collect their stipends through the community banks were asked to
open new accounts with approved banks in the country. After complying
with this instruction, the pension stipends of this set of retirees have
not been paid since 2005.
Frail pensioners from different states
of the federation have had to risk their lives on travelling on bad
roads to get to Abuja in order to lodge complaints with the appropriate
authorities, which are never addressed.
In 2010, there the government initiated
another reform of the pension scheme for its workers when a former Head
of Civil Service of the Federation, Oladapo Afolabi, inaugurated the
Pension Reform Task Team to be in charge of pension payment. The PRTT,
which was headed by Abudulrasheed Maina, employed a different approach
to addressing the lingering challenges.
According to him, there was a need to
first sanitise the system because it had been observed that the
structure of the pension department was porous, which allowed the fund
managers to steal monies meant for the pensioners. The PRTT also noticed
that pension managers were swindling the system of several billions of
naira.
Maina got money from the Federal
Government to conduct a general verification of the retirees.
Unfortunately, the result of the biometrics verification was
inconclusive and was never made official. While sanitising the scheme,
he claimed to have uncovered and deleted 73,000 bogus pension accounts,
which were opened by government officials in two pension departments.
According to Maina, the PRTT traced and
cracked down pension cartels in different parts of the country, thereby,
stopping the stealing of billions of naira meant for pensioners on a
monthly basis. Despite the measures introduced by the PRTT, the
pensioners’ suffering did not subside.
Endemic corruption
The plight of pensioners in the country
has not given hope to workers who are still in active service. The
workers have the fear that they may not be paid their pensions when they
retire. This pushes them to steal government funds when they have
access to them. The system is structured in a way that allows misconduct
to go unpunished, especially when it is committed by influential
people.
For instance, the PRTT tendered a charge
sheet to the Senate Committee on Pensions with over 140 counts against
32 persons who were allegedly siphoning billions of naira meant for
pension payment. It claimed to have discovered that 44,320 out of the
retirees were not on the payroll and recovered about N221bn from pension
thieves.
A major worry is that those who were
accused of stealing funds meant for the payment of pensions are still
walking freely. An example is a former Director, Police Pension Office,
Mr. John Yusuf, who was charged with pension fraud. The Federal High
Court sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment on each of the three
counts preferred against him for conniving with some others to defraud
the pension office of N27bn. The convict was given the option of paying
N250,000 on each of the count and he promptly paid N750,000 and walked
away. The system has thus continued to breed corruption in the society.
New pension directorate
As the pension problems did not get
better under the PRTT, the team was dissolved and the management of the
scheme was returned back to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of
the Federation in 2012. A year later, a new body was set up, which
derived its legality from Section 30 sub-section (2) (a) of the Pension
Reform Act, 2004. The PRA 2004 had stipulated that all pension affairs
should be consolidated under the National Pension Commission, but the
law was ignored because of the corruption spree in the system.
The then Head of Civil Service of the
Federation, Alhaji Goni Aji, decided to give effect to the legislation.
Subsequently, the Federal Government transferred the management of the
pension scheme from the OHCSF to the Pension Transitional Arrangement
Directorate and released N500m to the directorate to set up its
operations. Ms. Nellie Mayshack was appointed to head the new office.
Mayshack says the PTAD has improved the
monthly pension payment by ensuring prompt and electronic payment
through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information
System, as well as unveiling a mechanism for tracking failed payment to
pensioners. She explains that the directorate has been able to restore
the payment of monthly pension stipends to genuine pensioners removed
from the payroll and conducted biometric verification of retirees in
some arrears.
“The PTAD has also established a robust
complaints resolution mechanism; improved its services for pensioners;
tackles reported fraud cases in collaboration with the pensioners,
unions and agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission,” she explains. The directorate, she adds, has digitalized
pension payment and improved understanding and collaboration with the
labour and pension unions, banks and other partners.
“Our federal pensioners are most
certainly paid their pension very regularly. The records are there for
all to see. However, due to the financial situation in the country, our
funds are sometimes a little late getting to us but our pensioners are
paid up to date,” Mayshack notes. According to her, many of the
pensioners are happy with the arrangement and do compliment the PTAD for
its zeal.
Gloomy future
Two years after the PTAD started
managing the Federal Government’s pension scheme, many pensioners have
died while waiting for their rightful entitlements. The retirees are
still complaining of non-payment. It makes one to wonder if there can be
an end to their suffering.
The Chairman, Federal Concerned
Pensioners, Mr. David Adodo, says many pensioners are still not being
paid by the PTAD. According to him, many of the retirees are dying
because they cannot afford decent living. “We want the Federal
Government to intervene and do an overhaul of the pension scheme because
we are seriously suffering,” he pleads.
According to him, the lots of pensioners
had not improved since it was handed over to PTAD adding that the
pensioners are being treated poorly. “There has not been any improvement
in our pension payment, even the banks are not paying those on the
payroll regularly and the PTAD is not doing anything about it,” Adodo
says. According to him, since the PTAD took over the scheme, most of the
retirees have been waiting for verification and immediate payment of
their pension arrears, which are not forthcoming.
Mr. Enoch Ogundipe, 74, says the payment
of his pension was stopped in 2009. According to him, all promises made
by the PTAD to the retirees have not been fulfilled. “The PTAD came to
us in Lagos in October 2014 and promised that it would pay by December
2014, that our money was safe in the central bank. We have filled many
forms and I have travelled to Abuja four times, but all we have been
getting from the PTAD are failed promises,” he says regretfully.
Some of the pensioners on the payroll,
who made their bank statements available to The PUNCH, explain that the
paymentof their pension stipends is usually delayed for months by the
different banks handling the payment. They note that whenever they lodge
their complaints with the banks, they are usually told that the PTAD is
responsible for their not being paid on time.
The pensioners say they are unsure if
the PTAD is actually paying the banks or the banks are keeping the
pension funds as fixed deposit for the directorate in order to generate
profit. If the PTAD pays the banks, it is its duty to ensure that the
retirees’ accounts are credited.
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