The Association for Inclusive Local Governance and Budget (PILGOB), a non-governmental organization in Jigawa state, said it is closely following the shocking revelation that $3.2 billion owed by the Jigawa Contributory Pension Scheme has not been remitted. state and local governments to local government workers.
PILGOB administrative secretary Ahmed Ilallah told reporters in Dutse on Wednesday, the Jigawa State capital, that the alleged non-payment of the pension was the reason for the unusual delay in the payment of the rights of retirees in the state.
Newslodge reported how the 27 local governments in Jigawa state failed to remit at least 3.2 billion naira in mandatory pension contributions and deductions for several years.
Official documents obtained exclusively by this newspaper revealed that the municipalities did not remit the corresponding pension quotas in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
The documents also suggest that the councils’ failure to remit funds as required by law has left the state contributory pension plan in disrepair.
The document, a transition committee report, lists the outstanding payments from the 27 local government councils as the 17 per cent contributions from September 2014 to May 2015, amounting to 1.25 billion naira.
Similarly, in 2019, the unremitted funds amounted to 254.6 million naira, 795 million naira in 2020, and 920.9 million naira in 2021, for a total of more than 3.2 billion naira.
The reaction
Illallah said the committee set up by the state government to assess the state of the pension plan for civil servants did not speak candidly about its findings to reporters.
“The Jigawa State Pension Scheme (State and Local Government Contributory Pension) was lauded when it was created in February 2001 by the administration of former Governor Alhaji Saminu Turaki; the system has been working satisfactorily, but in recent years, when the plan has fully matured, there are fears about its sustainability in the future.
“This is the result of many attributes, including the transparency of the system in terms of investment of contributed funds, the mode of payment to retirees, the status of contributions by state and local government, and the unclear policy of the state public service. about pension benefits.
“The local governments of Jigawa State, which are partners in the pension scheme, have not remitted around 3.2 billion naira to the scheme, they have not made remittances for almost five years, which is against the state and local governments. from Jigawa. Contributive Pensions Law, which clearly establishes in its article 4 that “the law of the Contributive Pension Plan (Contributive Pension of State and Local Governments) requires that each pensionable worker contribute 8 percent of their basic salary; while state and local governments will contribute 17 percent of the base salary of all affected personnel on their payroll.”
“For governance transparency and accountability, state governments and local governments need to be candid and clarify their position on the allegation to set the record straight and also show the sincerity of the administration to reform the plan to get it back on track. be excellent in sustainability.
“If we recall, just a week before the inauguration of Malam Umar Namadi (Jigawa State Governor), he already inherited a long line of retired civil servants waiting to receive their bonuses and other pension benefits; some of these workers are nearing 10 months of retirement, which is unusual in the state for an extended period.
“The Governor inaugurated a committee, chaired by the Head of State Service, to examine the problems with the plan and propose a recommended solution to the government. However, after completing the Committee’s work, we have not heard of any remittance non-compliance by either the state or local governments.
“In our position on the Jigawa State Contributory Pension, the report of that committee is not enough to safeguard this system. A good pension system is self-sustaining, employment or lack of employment by the employer will not affect the individual contributor in terms of their retirement benefits.
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“The problem with the Jigawa pension system is that it uses a modern pension system to collect contributions, but makes payments to beneficiaries using the old payment system. For example, a person can be appointed permanent secretary and retire in the following months, but her bonus and pension exceed 400% of the degree she left days ago, while there is no justification for making this contribution.
“It is necessary for the government to take a stand on the accusations of non-remittances in order to win and allay the fear of public officials who have already been gripped by the fear of dying because of the pension plan and to save their integrity and commitment to retirees., said Mr. Illalah.
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