Pensioners under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has accused the Federal Government of illegally denying them their entitlement as a result of the non-payment of gratuity to them when they retired from service.
The pensioners who want the government to immediately address the situation said denying them gratuity when they retire on the pretext that they are not entitled to gratuity after retirement as illegal as the Pension Reform Act did not outlaw gratuity.
They want the government to reintroduce the payment of gratuity for pensioners, saying the government was deliberately shying away from its responsibility, adding that the idea of introducing the Contributory Pension Scheme was to relieve the government of the burden of payment of pensions and not gratuity which they said is a form of appreciation to the workers for their contributions while in service.
The pensioners are also agitating for a review in their entitlements as pensioners, saying the federal government was indebted to Pensioners who retired under the CPS, adding that they will continue to fight for their gratuity within the ambit of the law.
Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector, Comrade Slyva Nwaiwu who spoke at the second post inaugural Congress of the union in Abuja, said โgratuity is a right to any public worker who retired from service after five to thirty five ears of service, those who put in an ward of ten to thirty five years receive pension in addition.
โThe introduction of the CPS was to address the burden of monthly pension liabilities on the government and not that of gratuity. Hence, there is section of the Pension Reform Act before and as amended by the 2014 pension reform act that explicitly remove gratuity as a legitimate right to retirees.
โIn the old Defined Benefit Scheme, government pays gratuity to the retirees and thereafter continue to pay monthly pension. In the CPS, government s restricted to the payment of gratuity while the monthly pension of retirees accrue from the combined contributions by government and the workers, but from the inception of the CPS, government has tactically ignored the legitimacy of this important factor in the engagement agreement, without any legal or constitutional justification, thus shortchanging the CPS retirees.
โBoth the National Pension Commission and other relevant authorities need to look into this with dispatch as the injustice is so glaring. The fact is that the federal government is owing all public workers who had so far retired under the CPS gratuities and the union shall pursue this with vigor within the ambers of the law to ensure that the payment is effected in n distant time.โ
He said the Contributory Pension Scheme Pensioners were also being shortchanged in the review of Pension against the constitutional mandatory review of pensions every five years or whenever there is salary review, adding that since the introduction of the CPS, there has been two review of Pension without consideration for those under CPS.
Nwaiwu said though huge pension liability was inherited by the present government, it has not done anything to ensure adequate funding of the sector, adding that it was unfortunate that the Buhari government inherit d the error of underfunding the pension sector from previous government.
He explained that the aim of introducing the Contributory Pension Scheme as part of the pension reform initiative was to reposition the industry and inject efficiency into the system in other to end the long wait for retirement benefits by pensioners.
He lamented that between 2007 and 2014, pensioners began to wait for between three and six months before receiving their entitlement, pointing out that by 2015, the situation deteriorated to the unit where retirees have to wait for between 13 to 15 months after retirement before being paid their entitlement.
According to him, the major problem had to do with the fact that the immediate act PDP government became so reckless with spending public funds to the lint that pension funds were not left out, adding that โthis scenario is behind the crisis of huge pension liabilities in the CPS sector todayโ.
National President of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Dr. Abel Afolayan informed the gathering that every worker in Nigeria today is expected by law to key into he provision of the establishing Contributory Pension Scheme and โI can sure you all that the worst days for the Scheme are over. I can only be Better through our efforts.โ
Afolayan said the National Assembly, PENCOM and PFAs and all other relevant agencies involved in the administration if the Scheme are king very hard on the grey areas of the Scheme and trying to cover every aspects where little lapses have been manifesting by the day.
He said While government is laying its e in making Scheme work, as contributors to the Scheme owe it a duty to complement government efforts which is very important. The progress and success of the Scheme is a joint venture between both the government and the contributors.
