By Emmanuel Adeyemi, Lokoja
A university don, Prof Matthew Olasheinde Fashagba, has called on the Federal Government to immediately review Nigeria’s current Contributory Pension Scheme, saying it is laden with corruption, promotes old age poverty, and leads to premature deaths.
Prof Matthew Fashagba gave this advice yesterday at the 25th inaugural lecture of the Federal University, Lokoja, where he delivered a lecture entitled “Retirement Benefits Adequacy: The Need to Reform Nigeria’s Pension Reform.”
According to him, he said when an Act is passed but fails to achieve its objectives, it becomes necessary to review it urgently, saying in the case of Nigeria’s Contributory Pension Scheme, the Act has not successfully provided adequate retirement benefits for those it was meant for.
Prof Fashagba said early access to pension benefits must be reviewed, probably from the 50 years in the current Act to not less than 60 years.
“Netherland just reviewed their retirement age from 65 to 67 to sustain their pension system leadership in the world.”
“There should be a guaranteed minimum pension for retirees which should be complemented by the government if need be through special legitimized funds created for that purpose.”
“Government must provide funds to complement pension benefits for retirees with little amount into the retirement savings account to ensure that no retiree suffers old age poverty.”
He said to avoid old age poverty and premature deaths, pension benefits should be seen and accorded the same importance as employees’ wages and be given timely remittance, adding that the government should be able to demonstrate willingness to bring to justice any defaulter of timely remittance.
“Good economic management is paramount to prevent old age poverty. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure stability of the nation’s currency.”
“Corruption must be completely eliminated. You would recall that one of the major problems that led to the replacement of the old scheme was corruption. Corruption remains an active threat to the success of the contributory pension scheme.”
“Depoliticize the pension system in Nigeria. Computation of pension, annuity, life insurance, etc., require rigorous training not for every Harrison and Dickson on the street but for those with professional training for it. Hence political consideration should be downplayed in constituting the pension management team.”
Prof Fashagba said undermining professional training and skills for political consideration is akin to systematically designing inevitable failure in the pension system.
“Government should enforce compliance on private organizations with more than 15 employees on the compulsory contributory pension scheme as provided by the 2014 Pension Reform Act and show willingness for both public and private organizations to ensure purchase of life insurance policy for all employees as provided in the scheme.”
“There must be living wages for the workers if there will be retirement benefits that will preclude old age poverty. In either case, retirement benefit is a percentage of workers’ emoluments, hence if the wages cannot prevent poverty for workers, definitely, pension that is a percentage of it will not prevent poverty at old age,” he said.
Earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof Olayemi Akinwumi, said inaugural lectures provide an opportunity for scholars to share insights from years of academic exploration while also engaging the public on critical societal issues.
He said the theme of the lecture was both timely and pertinent, “especially as we navigate the complexities of pension administration in Nigeria,” saying pensions are a crucial aspect of financial security for retirees, ensuring that they can maintain a decent standard of living after years of service.