The introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) 11 years ago by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration has, without doubt, led to an unprecedented transformation in the nation’s pension arrangement and administration.
The need for the scheme became urgent as it was obvious that more elderly and weak retirees would keep losing their lives and even denied their entitlements following the poor implementation of the old arrangement under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
Today, a larger percentage of workers believed that since the scheme came on board under the amended Pension Reform Act 2014, hope has been restored in the system as workers and retirees are now sure of accessing their contributions whenever the need arises according to stipulated rules.
Over time, the pension assets have grown steadily from N110.69 billion in 2006 to N6.5 trillion as at February this year with membership growing from 1.6 million in 2006 to a little over seven million as at the moment.
The success of the scheme, which originally began with Federal Government workers and those in the private sector, has been so loud that even state governments have no choice than to key into it.
National Pension Commission (PenCom) records also revealed that the number of companies whose employees have so far registered is over 70,000 while over 40,000 employers with more than three employees have largely complied with the programme.
Despite this ray of hope in the system, it is unfortunate that recent developments around the scheme appear to be posing threat not just to the survival of the pension assets but dangerously to some current crop of workers, whose future are obviously being toyed with.
Granted that there have been pockets of complaints by some contributors over their inability to access their funds when needed, series of investigations have revealed that lack of understanding of how the scheme operates and failure on the part of Fund Administrators (PFAs) to adequately educate the contributors have been partly responsible for the conflict.
The mounting threat stems from the fact that as the assets grow steadily since inception to the current N6.5 trillion under the meticulous management of PFAs and strident supervision by PenCom, some government officials and politicians alike have taken it upon themselves to determine the direction of the funds.
Essentially, those who belong to this school of thought appear to be having a short vision of what the funds are actually meant for even with frequent explanations especially by the immediate past Director-General of PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Ahonu-Amanzu, that the funds are not actually lying idle but invested in securities as stipulated by PRA 2014.
The current debate by lawmakers, who are fighting tooth and nail to disrupt the disbursement modalities as well as overt attempt to pull members of the Nigeria Police out of the arrangement, is another attempt to further balkanize the scheme and defeat its purpose.
The first blow dealt on it was the successful manipulation of the Armed Forces out of it based on the peculiarity of their professional commitment to the nation’s security arrangement.
The fact that Chile where the model was duplicated also excluded its armed forces from the scheme does not necessarily mean that everything about theirs should be taken in hook line and sinker.
This becomes very imperative considering the fact that in the case of Chile, the police institution there is constitutionally part of the armed forces unlike what obtains here.
So attempt to appeal to sentiments that the police deserve equal treatment like the Armed Forces only sends wrong signals and would further amplify the gradual destruction of the scheme.
Moreover, the issue of trust and ability of some institutions to manage their pensioners’ benefits is still very much in doubt if one must take into cognisance the orgy of malfeasance that has greeted pension administration in the past.
Beyond the anticipated failure of the pension managers, we believe it is too early to subject the CPS to all manner of trials just within a period of 11 years even when it has not also shown any sign of failure.
It is in this regard that attempts being made to further vandalise the scheme through current debate at the National Assembly over police exclusion should be handled cautiously so as to ensure a secure future for Nigerian workers.
We also believe that what the lawmakers should concern themselves with as regards the scheme is to strengthen the law that will compel all employers to register their workers while also breathing down on those who deduct workers’ contribution without remitting to any PFA.
Beyond faulting the role of the lawmakers as currently being espoused, the PFAs should also up their game in enlightening contributors, especially those who believe their contributions can be accessed easily, by constantly ingraining in them the fact that their money is strictly meant to sustain them later in life, and not for uncertain investment at the moment.
