CPS best for Nigeria’s pension system, say legislators

• Refute cutting pension budget

The National Assembly joint Committee on Establishment and Public Services of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Pensions has described the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as best for the country’s pension system.

Rising from the just-concluded retreat organised by Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) in Calabar, Cross River state, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment on Public Service, Senator Emmanuel Paulker said the scheme is better than the old pension scheme- the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS).

According to him, based on the information gathered at the retreat,  there can be no going back to the old ways of pension administration in the country, assurng  that the legislators will on their part ensure that they put pressure on the Executive to release money for all accrued rights to be paid to pensioners.

He denied that legislators cut pension budget submitted to the National Assembly, and urged the executive arm of government to make enough budgetary provision that can meet pension needs.

“The National Assembly never cut a kobo from pension budget. It was what was presented to the National Assembly that was passed by the National Assembly. As a committee we even defended extra fund that was not provided in the budget, we went to the appropriation committee and made a case and defended that extra funds should be made available to both PTAD and PenCom that were not provided in the budget,” he explained.

The committee chairman said concerns were raised before the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2004 as amended in 2014 about how accrued pensions of all pensioners will be paid. Presently, he further said, while the Federal Government has not been able to address the issue fully, he assured that the legislators will try as much as possible as a committee overseeing the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) to put pressure on the Executive.

He further revealed that so far, the CPS established by the PRA 2004 as amend by PRA 2014 is a fantastic scheme. maintaining that there has been lots of benefits to workers and retirees under the scheme when compared to the old scheme. He said the Committee has been able to understand some of workings and challenges of the scheme at this retreat.

“We have appraised ourselves with some of the difficulties of the pension fund operators, which if we have sat down in chambers we couldn’t have the privilege of knowing. We however think that the interactionn between us, PENCOM, PenOp and the Executives should be more frequent so that issues relating to pension problems can quickly be resolved,” Paulker said.

On non participation by some State Governments in the CPS, the Senator said the States would have to join the CPS for the good of their workers and pensioners.

Source: Nation