Nigerian Newsday

By Fayil Friday, Abuja

The Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Honourable Zaphaniah Jisalo has lauded the contributory pension scheme of the federal government.

Speaking at a sensitization programme of the scheme recently organised for staffers of his council, he noted that in the past, pension administration had been associated with so many constraints ranging from non-payment and delay of pension benefits.

However, he was happy at the reformed version of the scheme which he said was targeted at ensuring that every person who has worked in either the public of private sector receives his retirement benefits as at when due. He emphasized that other objectives of the scheme were to assist improvident individuals by ensuring that they save to cater for their livelihood during old-age and to ensure that pensioners were not subjected to untold hardship due to inefficiency and cumbersome process of payment.

To this end, he enjoined the staffers of the council to join hands with his administration to ensure the success of the scheme.

In a paper presented by Mr. Uche Igwe of Akina venture, one of the organizers of the workshop, noted that the contribution could be negotiated with the employer paying 15 percent, provided minimum of 15 percent of the workers total emolument was contributed.

Mr. Uche added that the new Act encourages organizations with a superior benefit scheme for their staff to maintain the status quo.

It would be recalled that president Olusegun Obasanjo on July 25^th, 2004 assented to the pension Reform Bill to replace the pension Act of 1979.