The Nigeria Union of Pensioners Contributory Pension Scheme Sector (NUPCPS) has urged the federal government to release funds to pay the accrued rights portion of retirees’ pension benefits.

NUPCPS’ chairman, Sylva Nwaiwu, at a news conference in Abuja on Wednesday, urged the federal government to pay N32,000 pension increment to pensioners.

He said Nigerian workers who retired from the Contributory Pension Scheme about 20 months ago (from March 2023 to date) were yet to be paid their retirement benefits.

According to him, the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has yet to do anything about it. The national chairman also said that the OAGF had not released funds for payment of the accrued rights as appropriated by the National Assembly in the 2023 and 2024 budgets.

He added that retirees under CSP could no longer endure any neglect.

According to him, the senior citizens would have no other option than to turn the premises of the OAGF into their residence until the funds for the payment of their pension entitlements are released.

Mr Nwaiwu also urged OAGF to explain if the funds appropriated by the federal government in the name of accrued rights and the payment of pension increments to retirees over the years had been expended.

“It is time for the Nigerian public to know where the funds being appropriated annually in our national Budgets for CPS retirees since 2019 till date are,” he said.

He said that the primary objective of the CPS was for retired workers to receive their retirement benefits when they were due.

Mr Nwaiwu alleged sabotage against the CPS, adding that all past government regimes, especially during the immediate past administration, had made frantic efforts to correct the anomalies in the CPS, but the OAGF had not allowed the efforts to achieve success.

“The same is also true of the good intentions and initiatives to offset outstanding accrued rights and pension increments in the CPS sector by the present administration under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu.

“Tinubu set up a high-powered committee of critical stakeholders in the country’s pension industry to determine all outstanding government liabilities in the CPS sector and recommend ways and means to offset the liabilities,” he explained.

Mr Nwaiwu added, “The above committee had since submitted its report and recommendations to the Federal Executive Council, and a memo to that effect was written and signed by the Minister of Finance.

“But to our dismay, that memo is yet to be presented to the FEC. Not only that, since the committee’s report of which the OAGF was a member, there has not been any release of funds as already appropriated for by the National Assembly in the 2023 and 2024 for CPS retirees.” 

Mr Nwaiwu said the Defined Benefit Scheme had benefited from about four different pension increases, while CPS retirees have yet to receive it.

(NAN)