Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday urged the executive to ensure that backlog of pensions were paid promptly, warning that excuses would not be accepted.
Dogara made this known while reacting to briefing by Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her Budget and National Planning counterpart, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, on efforts to offset arrears owed Nigerian pensioners.
He expressed confidence that the promise of President Muhammadu Buhari on the pensions would be kept.
“When the president promised that he was going to release money for bailout to States so that they can pay backlog of salaries and pensions, he did.
“We will not accept any excuse that leaves part of this pension funds hanging,” he said.
According to him, I don’t know where you got the money to bail out the states from, but wherever you got the money from that is where we are going to get the money to solve this problem.
“I want to believe this will be the last intervention we will be having with regards to the issue of pensions in this country. That is my charge.
“The message the House will be sending to the President through the ministers is `when you meet him to brief him about this engagement, tell him that we have taken his words to the bank and we believe that we would cash it’.”
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP) has said that the N54 billion released by the Federal Government to cleared pension liabilities to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) was not enough to cleared pension arrears.
Dr Abel Afolayan, NUP President said this in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that the NUP felt the compelling need to put the facts straight as the Federal Government indebtedness to the CPS was over N280 billion.
He said the release of N54 billion could not be said to have cleared the backlog of pension liability, adding the Federal Government had consistently under-appropriated for the CPS over the past few years.
“NUP has it on verified record that whereas the sum N93 billion was needed to service Federal Government’s statutory obligations to the CPS in 2014, only N30.6 billion was approved, resulting in N62.4 billion deficit.
“Whereas N98.7 billion was needed for the year 2015, the budget office only proposed the sum of N60.2 billion to the National Assembly that alone was a shortfall of N38.5billion.
According to him, the year 2016 was worse as N91.9 billion was required, but the budget office proposed only N50 billion to the National Assembly, which also approved it, leaving a deficit of N41.9 billion.
He said that of the N50 billion approved in the 2016 budget, only the sum N18.8 billion or mandates for four months was released and cash-backed.
He added that N31.3 billion or mandate for seven and half months was never cash-backed and released.
According to him, the truth is that approval of payment is not the same as payment.
“It will be good for the minister to tell us when the fund was transferred to the National Pension Commission, and when it will hit pensioners’ accounts.
“Importantly, we are saddened that the Federal Government is claiming to have cleared pension arrears when the Minister did not say a word regarding the over N174 billion owed pensioners who retired under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).”
According to him, does it mean that pensioners under this scheme have finally been condemned to life of eternal hardship, sickness, and untimely death, President Muhammadu Buhari is not only a retiree, but also a kind leader.
“NUP recalls that he bent backwards to release bailout to State governments, which could not pay salaries.
“We call on the President to also extend the same kindness to the federal pensioners among us, whose pension benefits are his primary responsibility.
“ There is no doubt that the way retirees are treated would decide whether those in service and the younger generation would cue behind government’s anti-graft war or engage in looting to prepare for life after service,” he said.
Mrs Kemi Adeosun, the Minister of Finance had said in a statement that the Federal Government released the sum of N54 billion to clear liabilities to the CPS from 2014 till date.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Abdulrazak Namdas, said the 2017 Appropriation Bill would be passed after the Easter break.
Namdas told reporters after plenary on Thursday that all legislative work on the fiscal document would be concluded as soon as the Assembly resumed from the recess.
He explained that the House intervened in the issue of arrears of pensioners’ entitlements to enable the ministers in charge of finances to address the matter.
According to him, the explanation provided by the two ministers will go a long way to assuage the pains of the nation’s senior citizens.