Pensioners seek creation of ministry for pension affairs Pensioners in Nigeria have called on the federal government to establish a special ministry for the management and administration of pensions in the country. The pensioners made the call on Thursday at an event to mark the 12th edition of National Pensioners’ Day in Benin, Edo State. They said that the ministry which should be called the Federal Ministry of Pension Affairs and the Aged, was necessary as all measures so far taken to address the numerous problems facing pensioners and the aged in the country by government had failed. Speaking at the event, the National President of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Dr. Andrew Afolayan, noted that several methods adopted in for the annual pensioners’ verification exercise had injected fake names into the original list of retirees, creating more hardship for the pensioners. Afolayan frowned at the contributory pensions scheme, which he described as unworkable owing to the difficulty in ensuring compliance from the private sector and some state governments, many of whom he said had so far failed to remit funds to pension fund administrators. He also called for a thorough investigation of cases of alleged pension racketeering, a situation which he said has made Nigeria a laughing stock to the international community. Also speaking, the Edo State Chairman of the union, Mr Ikpenwosa Omoragbon, urged the state government to provide an upward review of the monthly pension which he said was less than N4,000. Omoragbon, who commended the state governor, Adams Oshiomhole, for founding the annual event when he was the National President of the Nigerian Labour Congress in 1999, urged him to implement the six and 15 per cent increases for pensioners as contained in a circular in December 2013. ift.tt/1x5DkB9 ift.tt/1z0kBWB [[Boost your social presence with NAIRALIKES nairalikes ]] #nigeria x #nairalikes #vanguardng
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 14:13:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015