The House of Representatives has said it is addressing the concerns over the administration of the over N15.5 trillion pension assets and the N10 trillion given to the federal government as loans, as well as other issues.
Chairman of the Committee, Rep Hussaini Mohammad Jalo and his Deputy, Prince Olaide Mohammed, while addressing newsmen on Tuesday made the disclosure on the activities of the committee.
He explained that the committee was mandated to investigate the status of the pension fund assets of over N15.5 trillion with a view to ensuring that the N10 trillion loaned to the federal government from the pension fund is duly recovered and modalities are put in place to hinder the collapse of the pension schemes.
Jalo said that the committee is to scrutinise the failure of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) in fulfilling their obligation to retirees with regard to access to their retirement savings.
Rep. Jalo noted that the committee has done its work and will address all concerns being raised on pension by retirees who are being subjected to unnecessary hardship despite clear provisions of the Act about their entitlements.
According to him, “If they are paying pensioners as a premium, why should we have these funds stocked, being controlled by some organisations? Why? So it’s, for example, that the treatment of our pension funds is not going to be accepted. We won’t condone it. We are even going deeply into the investment.
“Are they really giving the actual returns to the contributors? They are making huge money. But what are they giving the contributors? We are going into that. So we are using this medium to call on the general public, whoever has any complaint against PFAs, to forward it to the committee, for further necessary action.”
The deputy chairman of the committee, Rep Olaide Mohammed, on his part explained that many organisations are not complying with the Pension Act, especially in the private sector, which he said the committee has addressed and many other issues in its recommendations.
He stated that they would not talk about all those observations for now, saying that in Nigeria most companies are not complying with the Pension Act because any organisation that has 15 or more staff must enrol their members.
He said that they want to make sure that every worker in Nigeria enjoys the pension and are working on that, pointing out that they will ensure that they comply. All the multinational companies, even private companies in Nigeria, are working on that, and very soon Nigerians will see a change in the pension industry.
House of Reps addresses N5.5 trillion, N10 trillion loan to Nigerian govt