Release N66bn pension – Shekarau begs Buhari
Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Pension, Rep. Hassan Shekarau, has appealed to President Mohammadu Buhari to release the N66 billion needed to settle the accrued backlog of pension for 2017 retirees.
Shekarau made the appeal at the opening of 2018 Conference for Directors of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) organised by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Tuesday in Lagos, NAN reports.
He applauded the introduction of Pension Reform Act of 2004 repealed by that of 2014 Act, saying the backlog needed to be settled to uphold the confidence of Nigerians in the pension scheme.
The lawmaker, however, said the president should be appreciated for releasing N54 billion in April 2017, to clear the backlog of accrued pension rights.
“However, the money was only able to settle part of 2014, 2015 and 2016 accrued pension rights,” he said
Shekarau, who is representing Birnin-Gwari and Giwa Federal Constituency in Kaduna State, restated that the greatest challenge confronting pension administration was, “Accrued Pension Rights.”
“Also, it faces the five per cent increment on pension for retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and 33 per cent increment on retirees Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
“I passionately appeal to the president to give priority to the debt and release the N66 billion estimate submitted by PenCom to settle the accrued rights obligation.
“we urge practitioners to ensure they strictly adhere to the resolutions reached at the conference.Any action outside international best practices for pension operators in Nigeria would not be accepted,” Shekarau added.
