We Are Suffering, Our Daily Pay Can Barely Buy Loaf Of Bread - Nigerian Retirees Under Contributory Pension Scheme Cry Out

Many Nigerian retirees under the aegis of Contributory Pension Retiree Forum have cried out about their condition, lamenting that they are suffering. 

According to them, they are being exploited and ripped off their entitlements by Pension Fund Administrators (PSAs) through Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), under the guise of managing their benefits and entitlements during their service years.

The Forum in a Save Our Soul message made available to newsmen on Monday said that in 2004, they were compulsorily asked to join Annuity operated by an Insurance company or programmed withdrawal under the Contributory Pension Scheme operated by PFAs under the control of the National Pension Commission (PENCOM). 

“By virtue of the 2014 amended Act, the narrative of retirees' plights under CPS does not change the situation any better. The obnoxious CPS denies us having a greater share of the lump sum after retirement and dispenses a paltry monthly pension to retirees across the board under the scheme.”

The forum cited the case of a retiree who served as a federal civil servant from July 15, 1981 to July 15, 2016 on salary grade Level 14, when he retired, having reached the mandatory period of 35 years and maximum age of 60 years.

The total balance of the retiree’s contributory pension at his retirement was said to stand at N6,745,823.34, out of which, he was paid 25% which amounted to N1,686,455.84 “while the balance of 75% was greedily retained by PFA for their selfish investment in the capital market and other large institutions with high returns which is never added to retirees' paltry monthly payment while still alive.”

The retiree is said to have been receiving the sum of N26,703.15 every month since 2016 till date “despite the huge profits declared every year under CPS.”

The retiree forum lamented that such an amount of pension being paid to the retiree “can barely buy a loaf of bread at the price of N1000 currently per day for 30 days. The same applies to all our colleagues under this wicked and unfair arrangement. 

“This is disappointing in a nation that prides itself as the giant of Africa and says in its National Anthem that the labour of our heroes past shall not be in vain. Retirees under this scheme worked for their life saving benefits while those collaborators under CPS enjoy their hard earned benefits in the name of investing their funds for them. 

“At this point, one may ask, is 35 years working experience in Federal Service not enough to manage one's entitlement? Or is a 60 years mature retiree unable to handle investment that they are handling and in return give just a little fraction to pacify the starving and financially incapacitated retirees under this unholy CPS? 

“This sharp practice must stop. This enslavement and exploitation must stop. 

“We know how to invest and manage our entitlement for our best interest. The N6,745,823.34 if given to the retiree en bloc will earn him yearly income of N674,582.33 at 10% and N56,215.19 monthly as against the N26,703.15 which he have been receiving as a monthly pension for the past seven years without increase. 

“Unfortunately, the sad part of this is that every day prices of goods and services are on the increase unprecedentedly. While workers and retirees under the old scheme - Defined Benefit Scheme had their salaries and pension increased across all levels, we in the CPS are abandoned to our fate. 

“We could not get an increase. We face the same adverse market conditions and inflation, yet no one to rescue us from this cruelty by the PENCOM and PFAs scam. Enough is Enough. Put an end to the abracadabra you are doing under the guise of CPS.” 

The retirees further lamented that the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu "government has not only increased their hardships but has also rendered “the paltry monthly pension useless.”

According to them, with the example of the retiree who is receiving N26,703.15 monthly pension, with the current dollar to Naira exchange rate at about N750 per dollar, it means the retiree is being paid $35.6 dollars “which is a far cry of the minimum of $1,000 dollars recommended globally to move out of poverty.”

The retirees called on the National Assembly and the Presidency to come to their aide as they are “being shortchanged by giving a living pension while we are still alive and to save us from the greedy but lucrative business set up by PENCOM and PFAs for their own selfish interest under CPS arrangements and designs.”