The Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPS) has accused the Federal Government of undermining the patriotism and sacrifice by Nigerian workers ten years after the introduction of the Contributory Pension Scheme CPS policy (2004 – 2014) after it decided to exempt some category of public servants from the Scheme and returned them to the same old pension scheme (DBS) it had earlier abolished.
The Union members who laid siege on the Federal Ministry of Finance Head Quarters Abuja barricaded the gate and disrupted movement to press home their grievances after a meeting with Public servants who have a year or less to retire from service at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Chairman of NUPCPS Comrade Sylva Natatwu said the discriminatory window of exemption created by the Federal Government, have seen majority of workers from Publicly funded institutions such as the Nigeria Police Service, the paramilitary, National Assembly workers, today seriously agitating to exit from the CPS. “Note that the top echelon of Public Servants like the retired Heads of Service of the Federation, Accountant Generals of the Federation and equivalent ranks, Permanent Secretaries, and Director Generals, to mention a few, who sold the CPS idea to the Federal Government in 2004, had since exempted themselves from the scheme,” he said.
Natatwu in a meeting with the outgoing public servants to discuss issues bothering the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) introduced by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2004 stated that “It is on record that Nigerian workers, as represented by their various Heads and trade union leaders during the negotiations in 2004, agreed to shift from the old pension Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS) to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as a Government pension reform initiative, in the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism, as it became very obvious to all, that with the growing population of workers, the Government could no longer sustain a pension system that is non-contributory or subject to annual budgetary allocations.”
Looking back, he said “By May 2015 when Ex-President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR came into power, the CPS policy was already on the verge of implementation collapse. Pension increments to retirees under the CPS from 2007 were neglected, and monthly remittances of accrued rights were abruptly stopped, leading to unbearable delays in the release of the accrued rights portion of retirement benefits to retired workers. Between the same 2015 and 2019, the backlog of accrued rights rose to about 20 months. It took the intervention of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) who cried out for help to his Excellency Mohammadu Buhari on the 4th of January during a visit him at the villa. I was privileged part of the NUP delegation on that visit. Soon after the NUP visit, all the outstanding 20 months of accrued rights were later released by the Federal government, and the monthly remittance of accrued rights was restored. The administration of President Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR, also put in place a process for the payment of pension increments to CPS retirees before it handed over Power on 29th May 2023.”
“CPS retirees jubilated, therefore, when His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, succeeded Ex-President Buhari in office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Because, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, was one of the first state Governors to implement the CPS policy as the then Governor of Lagos state.That is to say, that the CPS policy is not unknown to him. We confidently looked forward to his regime making good, the processes already put in place for the welfare of CPS retirees by his predecessor (Ex president Buhari).”
“True to our expectations, in a short while after His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR assumed office, a Government, Committee comprising of all critical stakeholders and chaired by the immediate past Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Folashade Esan, was put in place to determine among other factors, all Government liabilities in the CPS Sector and to recommend ways and means to offset the liabilities. That Committee had since submitted its report/ recommendations and a Federal Executive Council (FEC) Memo signed by the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, to that effect.”
After making these observations, the union sadly observed that CPS retirees were excluded from the three pension increments paid or approved by the present administration to retired Public Servants. Heightening their concern is the release of funds for accrued rights to retired workers accumulated to 21 months (March 2023 to November, 2024) while they got only 3 months out of the 21 months of accrued rights after conducting a peaceful rally at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation on 23rd October, 2024, leaving them with a backlog of 18 months yet to be released.
The Chairman of the Union said retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) have become “endangered species, highly famished, dehumanized and subjected to untold hardships in the Nigerian society. Many CPS retirees are bedridden, with many of them being sent to their early graves without enjoying the fruits of their labour after 35 years of using their youthful years to serve their fatherland.”
He observed that unlike other public Servants, the Federal Government has continued to discriminate against and marginalised CPS retirees from all pension benefits including a 15% increase in 2007; 33% increase in 2010; Consequential adjustment in 2019 following the increase in the national minimum wage; 20% to 28% increase in 2024; and the approved N32,000 per month pension increase arising from the current minimum wage of N 70,000 to workers.
This latest effort by the union is to shore up support from public servants counting down days before crossing to the other side.
The Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPS), is a Sector of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP), the umbrella body established by the Act of Parliament in 1978 to unionize all Nigerian retired workers. The NUPCPS was officially inaugurated as a Sector under the NUP on 27th February 2017.
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