By Jubril Bada & Bukola Olamona

The suffering of retirees in Ondo State will soon be a thing of the past as a result of the new pension scheme designed to protect the interest of workers.

The State Pension Commission (OSPEC) and the State Pension Transitional Department that superintend over the affairs of workers and pensioners in the state respectively gave the hint  that the new scheme is working perfectly in the best interest of contributors and unlikely to fail.

The Contributory Pension Scheme was introduced in September 2014 by the Federal Government due to the backlog issues of pension and gratuity arrears by the old pension scheme in the country.

The Ondo State Pension Transitional Department was established by the state to take care of old scheme and process the pension and gratuity of intending retirees.

Labour veteran and former Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Ondo State, Pastor Oyekan Arije, challenged Labour organisations to hold government accountable and ensure that political office holders do not collect pensions until civil servants in their category get their pensions.

Arije noted that if this is done, pensions of civil servants in the state will no longer be delayed.

The elder statesman who berated political office holders for making their pension and emolument a priority at the detriment of civil servants said most civil servants die before their pensions were paid.

He called on Labour organisations to begin to uphold the tenet of the organisations and ensure that workers benefit from being a member of the organisations.

Other stakeholders who spoke with The Hope in separate interviews include the Director-General, Ondo State Pension Commission, Mr. Babatunde Adefusi-Owate, the State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Clement Fatuase, his NLC counterpart, Comrade Victor Amoko, and the Director of Finance and Administration, Ondo State Pension Transitional Department, Mrs. Adesola Samuel-Alpheus.

 Adefusi-Owate said the Contributory Pension Scheme under the Commission is working perfectly in the best interest of contributors, stressing that the possibility the scheme will fail does not exist.

The scheme which he said has almost 8, 000 workers on the Contributory Pension Scheme as at February ending is different from the old pension scheme in which government is responsible for 100 percent payment of pension and gratuity, adding that fund is no longer in the custody of the government.

The scheme, he assured, cannot afford to fail because it has organised framework and invests in government bond, treasury bill, security and shares as designed parameters by PENCOM.

“If there is any sector well regulated in the country, it is the Contributory Pension Scheme because it has Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) as corporate organisations that have been licensed to carry out pension business, and Pension Fund Custodians (PFC) hold pension assets, finances and cash.

“The risk in the Contributory Pension Scheme is low compared to the old scheme in processing the gratuity and pension after retirement from the active service.

“All workers on the scheme, government has them covered insurance wise over their total emolument. Workers who died in active service will be compensated just as the commission is planning to extend the insurance to accident in the course of work.

“The commission is bringing another side to it, the micropension plan for those who are not in structured paid employment to involve in the scheme,.” he stated

The Director of Finance and Administration, Ondo State Pension Transitional Department, Mrs. Adesola Samuel-Alpheus, also said that pension scheme in the state has not failed, pointing out that the department which takes care of old scheme and processes the pension and gratuity of intending retirees is effectively working.

Though the department has been facing challenge of backlog of pension arrears, she said the state government has been doing well as 2013 and 2014 arrears have been cleared with the flag- off of 2015 arrears early this year.

The department, according to her, is functioning well as the state government ensures retirees are not left to suffer after retirement.

Also, the Ondo State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Clement Fatuase, expressed confidence in the scheme just as he noted that it cannot fail in Ondo State as it failed in other states.

The CPS under the State Pension Commission, which commenced in September 2014 for employed workers in that year, he said has not matured for assessment of pension.

He maintained that the scheme faces challenges over non regular payment of counterpart funds of some tertiary institutions on subvention.

He said “Efforts are being taken with the state government on how to help tertiary institutions on the payment of their counterpart funds.

“I will advise the state tertiary institutions to emulate the federal tertiary institutions on the template adopted with Contributory Pension Scheme in arriving at a better means of solving failure to get their counterpart funds paid regularly.

“The scheme is functioning well with a view of having more than 60 percent performance in term of remittance.

“I’m confident in the scheme in creating for workers what to fall back on after retirement. If it fails in other states, it will not fail in Ondo State because we monitor the activities of the scheme.

The State Chairman of the  NLC, Comrade Victor Amoko, disclosed that the state Government has been paying as and when due.

 He added that the state keyed into the Pension Scheme in 2014, adding that since then government has not reneged in paying her own counterpart funds.

He said: “In fact, the state is doing well in this regards and should be commended but I don’t know about those at the federal or other states”.