NLC to employers: It’s criminal not to remit workers’ pension

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that it is criminal for any employer to deduct workers’ contributory pension from source without remitting same to their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).

The President of NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, said this at the Public Hearing organised by the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the activities of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) held in Abuja yesterday.

This was even as the Acting Director General of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar, told the Committee that pension funds are safe and there has not been a single incidence of pension fraud and mismanagement under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Wabba said the expectation is that employees’ retirement savings would be safely invested in instruments that would yield maximum returns and it is illegal for any employee to deduct such contributions without remittance.

The NLC boss called on the President and the Senate to constitute the board of PenCom to give workers and pensioners more say on how their retirement savings are managed.

He said the interim management of PenCom headed by Dahir-Umar inherited a situation that they did not create as a duly constituted board would end all issues being investigated by the Committee.

The Acting PenCom boss described as “completely incorrect and unfounded” allegations against the Commission for infractions of the Pension Reform Act, 2014.

She said the Commission followed due process in promotion of three deputy general managers to general managers and review of Commission’s staff end of service benefits.

She told the Committee that she acted in line with the Pension Act that required PenCom to report directly to the President in absence of a Board and that the Commission has been reporting to the Secretary General of the Federation as directed by the President.

She also refuted allegation that the interim management in PenCom is stalling appointment and resumption of duty of the members of the Board of the Commission.

She said only the President has power to appoint the Chairman, the Director-General and Commissioners of the National Pension Commission, subject to confirmation by the Senate and that career staff of the Commission do not have any role or influence on it.

The Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, represented by Munir Danagundi told the Committee that the House constituted the Committee to ensure accountability and transparency.

Dogara said, “When this motion was brought to the floor of the House, everybody was concerned because of the magnitude of the asset of this agency, which is over N8.9 trillion, an equivalent of the national budget. It is the concern of every member and citizen of the country to see that the right thing is done so that nothing happens to our pension funds.”

The Committee Chairman, Johnson Agbonayinma, raised concerns on gaps in remittance of pension contributions, which PenCom blamed on occasional irregular remittance of workers’ pension contributions by the Federal Government.

Agbonayinma said the Committee would conduct a transparent probe into activities of PenCom and report to the House in due time.