The
Nigeria Labour Congress has said the plight of pensioners has not been ignored
in the negotiation on new minimum wage between the union and the Federal
Government.
The Federal Government’s
delegation will meet the leaders of labour unions on Monday (today) at the
Ministry of Labour and Employment, with the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige,
presiding. The parties met for seven hours on Friday but it was inconclusive
and both parties agreed to adjourn until Monday.
In an exclusive interview with the General Secretary of the union,
Peter Ozo-Eson, said, “Although the tripartite committee was set up to discuss
a new minimum wage, the committee liberally made a recommendation that the
government needed to look at the possibility of instituting a minimum pension.
The committee could not have worked that out and say this is the amount that
should be paid to pensioners because it is not within its terms of preference.
“But they made a recommendation that there was a need to institute
minimum pension because the pensioners were taking ridiculously low amount that
could not sustain them. The pensioners union is an affiliate of the NLC and
memoranda were submitted in that respect and the committee made recommendation
in that respect.”
The
NLC spokesman added that Federal Government were four years behind in the
remittance of pension fund to a bond which existed before the new pension
scheme was instituted, noting that the NLC had confronted the FG over the issue
and taken the matter to the National Assembly.
“From the beginning, state governments were not part of the
contributory pension. Some have now agreed with their workers and come on board
so many of the states that have joined did so not too long back.”
He said, “To start with, the
Pension Act 2014 as amended clearly deals with those issues (of remittance). It
is a law that imposes penalty for such thing. But who enforces the law? It is
the government. If a company takes workers’ money through deduction, it is
supposed to add its own and transmit it (to relevant pension agency). If you
prosecute some companies and make examples of them, using the prescription in
the law, people will start doing the right thing.
The
Nigeria Labour Congress has said the plight of pensioners has not been ignored
in the negotiation on new minimum wage between the union and the Federal
Government.
The Federal Government’s
delegation will meet the leaders of labour unions on Monday (today) at the
Ministry of Labour and Employment, with the Minister of Labour, Dr Chris Ngige,
presiding. The parties met for seven hours on Friday but it was inconclusive
and both parties agreed to adjourn until Monday.
In an exclusive interview with the General Secretary of the union,
Peter Ozo-Eson, said, “Although the tripartite committee was set up to discuss
a new minimum wage, the committee liberally made a recommendation that the
government needed to look at the possibility of instituting a minimum pension.
The committee could not have worked that out and say this is the amount that
should be paid to pensioners because it is not within its terms of preference.
“But they made a recommendation that there was a need to institute
minimum pension because the pensioners were taking ridiculously low amount that
could not sustain them. The pensioners union is an affiliate of the NLC and
memoranda were submitted in that respect and the committee made recommendation
in that respect.”
The
NLC spokesman added that Federal Government were four years behind in the
remittance of pension fund to a bond which existed before the new pension
scheme was instituted, noting that the NLC had confronted the FG over the issue
and taken the matter to the National Assembly.
“From the beginning, state governments were not part of the
contributory pension. Some have now agreed with their workers and come on board
so many of the states that have joined did so not too long back.”
He said, “To start with, the
Pension Act 2014 as amended clearly deals with those issues (of remittance). It
is a law that imposes penalty for such thing. But who enforces the law? It is
the government. If a company takes workers’ money through deduction, it is
supposed to add its own and transmit it (to relevant pension agency). If you
prosecute some companies and make examples of them, using the prescription in
the law, people will start doing the right thing.
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