National Pension Commission (PenCom) solicited the cooperation of Nigerian labour unions, such as Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria LabourCongress (NLC), as well as anticorruption agencies, like Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), towards ensuring that all employers of labour in Nigeria put in place adequate pension plan for their workers.
Director-General of PenCom, Ms Omolola Oloworaran, made the request at the maiden round table discussion with the leadership of TUC in Lagos on Tuesday.
Oloworaran informed the TUC leadership of various reforms made by the commission to ensure that Nigerian workers retired with dignity, but said compliance among formal sector employers had remained a major challenge.
She vowed to make life very unbearable and uncomfortable for employers who did not put in place pension plan for their employees.
The PenCom director-general said the round table discussion with TUC was part of her ongoing stakeholder engagement framework for ensuring that all Nigerian workers retired with dignity.
According to her, henceforth, there would be no hiding place for employers without adequate pension plan for their employees.
Oloworaran insisted that she would use every instrument at her disposal to make life unbearable for them.
She said the worst scenario was employers who deducted workers’ money but failed to remit same to their Retirement Savings Account (RSA).
She stated, “The reforms we have put in place are very important. I see brighter days ahead for pension but the challenge is compliance with formal sector.
“It is, indeed, a challenge. We had meeting with one of the labour chapter persons on how they will support us for compliance and she is a very nice person we want collaboration with TUC and other labour unions on compliance by employers. We want to make life uncomfortable for employers who are not contributing to workers’ pension.
“We want to use everything at our disposal the TUC, NLC, including ICPC, so that we don’t have people who continue to work but employers are not putting up pension.”
Oloworaran said the commission was on a strong footing to move pension sector forward so that workers would not retire with pains.
She informed the TUC executive members present at the forum that the commission needed their collaboration and partnership.
According to the PenCon director-general, the purpose of the discussion, which she said would be a biennial event, was to look at critical areas of mutual cooperation and collaboration between the commission and TUC.
She informed the congress that last year the commission rolled out the largest reform ever since 2004, tagged, “Pension Revolution 2.0”, targeted at ensuring dignified retirement for Nigerian workers.
She said the revolution had a lot of reforms lined up for workers’ welfare.
According to her, having achieved stability in the pension system, the commission needs to move the pension sector from stability to visibility.
TUC President, Comrade Festus Osifo, expressed support for the commission.
Osifo described PenCom as one of the finest institutions that lived to its name.
He assured the commission that TUC stood firmly behind its transformative initiatives.
Other executive members of the congress said the transparency they saw in PenCom gave the Nigerian worker hope that their retirement would be dignified.
The commission said the Lagos roundtable was part of a broader strategy to institutionalise structured dialogue with organised labour. By bringing TUC into the fold, PenCom said its target was to directly tackle anxieties regarding fund management and inflation.
Ebere Nwoji
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