Stakeholders hail Senate’s move to review Pension Reform Act

Some stakeholders have commended the move by the Senate to review the lump sum paid to retirees from their savings from 50 percent to 75 percent.

The stakeholders, who spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Thursday, described the move as a welcome development.

National President, Medical and Dental Consultants’ Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr. Victor Makanjuola, said that most retirees felt cheated with the returns from their Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs).

Makanjuola said that this had informed the demand for the upward review of the retirement funds.

He said: “After the initial 50 percent lump sum, what retirees get each month subsequently is peanut, despite the number of years that retirees had made the savings.’

“But, with the upward review, it will be possible for retirees to get 75 percent and invest it on ventures that will yield lots more than what the PFAs will be giving to them. It is a good thing because it will make lots of retirees get better value for their money,” he said.

Makanjuola, however, noted that the move to increase the lump sum to retirees had its pros and cons.

“For instance, there may also be some retirees who will invest wrongly or squander their money and are left with just 25 percent for the rest of their life.’’

He, however, said the latest would be of great benefit to those who invested their monies wisely because of the meager yield from PFAs.

Also, Mr. Wale Akinremi, Chairman, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), University of Ibadan chapter, told NAN that the move was in the right direction.

Akinremi said that the prevailing economic situation in the country called for the upward review.

“When you look at the current monetary policy in Nigeria, devaluation of currency and all that, they affect the value of what retirees get. It is indeed an answer to the yearnings of the workers, as they have been at it for quite a while,’’ he said.

Mrs. Abiola Mapaderun, a civil servant in Oyo State, also lauded the initiative, saying that it would bring succor to retirees, considering the economic situation in the country.

NAN recalls that Sen. Aliyu Wamakko, representing Sokoto North senatorial district, had sponsored the bill to amend the Pension Reform Act 2004 to grant retirees access to 75 percent of their pension savings.