– Seeks Presidency’s intervention
– Alleges PenCom doesn’t reply letters, digitally disabled
– Efforts to get PenCom’s reaction unsuccessful
A retired Professor who has been unable to access his retirement benefits and pensions after two years and five months has cried out, accusing the Director-General of the National Pension Commssion (PenCom) of incompetence and promoting corruption.
Boniface Oye-Adeniran, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology who retired from College of Medicine of the University of Lagos in June 2019, said PenCom’s Director General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, was yet to resolve the Payment of his monthly pension benefits since his retirement.
He made the accusation, just as there are growing fears that heavy borrowing by the Federal Government to the tune of N8.29 trillion from Pension Fund Assets, which stood at N12.9 trillion at the end of August 2021, could affect PenCom’s ability to meet its obligations to retirees as at when due.
In an email to President Muhammadu Buhari, routed through his Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Professor Oye-Adeniran said his monthly Pension Arrears have also not been paid by PenCom.
In the said email, dated November 8, 2021 and copied to the publicly available email address of PenCom, info@pencom.gov.ng, Professor Oye-Adeniran further stated: “I have requested for a transfer of my monthly pension arrears to my UBA Current Account – shown below – and authorisation to my Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to continue to pay my monthly pension thereafter as per attached PenCom Guidelines.
“The DG, PenCom has neither transferred my monthly pension arrears to my account nor replied to the letter – dated 18 September 2020 – from my Pension Fund Administrator(PFA), Pension Alliance Limited (PAL), seeking authorisation to pay my last consolidated salary as my monthly Pension in accordance with PenCom Guidelines.”
Wondering why it was taking so long for Pencom to act, he said his monthly Pension – as a Professor who retired at the age of 70 years – should be easy to compute, as it is his last consolidated salary at retirement.
According to him, this is in accordance with sections 1.6.2 and 2.1.1 (i) of the PenCom “Guidelines for the Administration of Retirement Benefits of Professors and A category of Political Appointees.”
He said by December 2021, according to his own calculations, PenCom would be owing him over N15 million, pleading that the Commission should be prevailed upon to remit the arrears and subsequently his monthly pensions to his Pension Fund Administrator (PFA), Pension Alliance Limited (PAL).
Commenting on his email to the Presidency in a chat with The Lagos Times, Oye-Adeniran, who was a former National President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), said by this attitude of failing to remit retirees pension benefits and monthly pension in a timely manner, PenCom is unwittingly promoting corruption, and its Director-General should be held responsible.
He further stated: “Corruption can easily be eradicated if Pension Benefits of Public Servants are paid promptly as at when due without let or hindrance.”
He also accused PenCom of not replying letters and being digitally disabled, explaining that a letter by his PFA to the Commission since last year was yet to be replied, while his November 8, 2021 email copied to info@pencom.gov.ng bounced back with the message “Delivery has failed to these recipients or groups:info@pencom.gov.ng. The recipient’s mailbox is full and can’t accept messages now. Please try resending your message later, or contact the recipient directly.”
Asked if his was not amongst the 5.1 million retirement savings accounts with Pension Fund Administrators incomplete documentation as of the end of 2020 financial period, as published by The Punch online today, Prof. Oye-Adeniran said he was sure he was not.
According to The Punch report, which quoted PenCom’s 2020 annual report, incomplete document could prevent the RSA holders from having access to their pension benefits.
He said: “That is not the case with mine. They came to University of Lagos, Akoka in 2018 to capture our documentation – clear one year before my retirement. PenCom might be talking about those who retired during the COVID-19 lockdown.
“My Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) have submitted my details since 2019 when I retired. In my own case PenCom has not resolved the issue of my monthly Pension.
“PenCom has remitted my Accrued rights to my PFA. My PFA said they wrote PenCom about my monthly Pension since 2020, over a year ago and no reply.
“My PFA cannot pay my Accrued rights until PenCom authorises the payment of my last CONSOLIDATED Salary as my monthly Pension. PenCom has to remit money to my PFA for that to happen.”
Meanwhile, the Leadership newspaper had reported two weeks ago that the federal government borrowed a whopping N8.29 trillion from Pension Fund Assets which stood at N12.9 trillion at the end of August 2021.
According to the newspaper, even though an earlier attempt by the federal and state governments to borrow directly from the pension funds was met by a stiff public resistance, thus nipping the idea in the bud, the federal government has continued to dominate in utilisation of the pension pension funds’ assets, howbeit indirectly through investment in federal government securities.
The federal government, through the National Economic Council (NEC), had in 2019 announced plans to borrow N2 trillion from the pension funds to finance the development of infrastructure. The decision sparked a lot of backlash as Nigerians unanimously kicked against the move. Had the plan worked, it would have become the norm for governments to borrow directly from the pension funds.
Pension fund investment in federal government securities still accounted for the bulk of 64 per cent of total pension fund assets, crowding out investments in other sectors of the economy, even as it dropped by about N220billion from N8.51trillion in July, 2021 to N8.29 trillion as of the end of August 2021.
The drop, according to LEADERSHIP investigation, was as a result of drop in yield of bonds and treasury bills, which started last year, hence, Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) were divesting from this investment outlet, into better investment windows that give better returns.
Pension fund operators have been seeking investment alternatives besides government bonds and treasury bills to increase returns on investment on pension assets as yields from FGN securities decline.
Efforts to reach PenCom by telephone, via the numbers provided on their website – 07002255736266, +23494603930 – proved abortive, as neither of the two lines went through. An email seeking reaction sent to PenCom’s contact email listed on its website, info@pencom.gov.ng, was yet to be replied as at the time of this publication.
