Pensioners Protest Humongous PenCom Staff Salaries as Commission Debunks Claim
- Some pensioners in Nigeria have expressed disbelief over the purported huge pay to PenCom staff
- The pensioners said that the report threw them off balance and said, if true, would discourage hard work and ethics
- However, the National Pension Commission has described the report as false and misleading and stated that no such thing happens at the Commission
Pensioners are dismayed over reports that staff at the National Pension Commission go home with monthly amounts as salaries and entitlements.
Pensioners who spoke with Legit.ng over the report on Friday, September 16, 2022, said it is unbelievable how workers at PenCom would be paid so much while the genuine owners of the fund are dying poor, in debt and in abject poverty.
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Pensioners speak
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has denied the allegation that the least paid employee of the Commission earns a salary of N3 million per month.
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Jonathan Ugboaja, a 68-year-old retiree from one of the textile companies, said he read the report in disbelief and saw the heated exchange between PenCom Director-General and members of a committee of the House of Representatives.
He said:
“I hardly believed that those appointed to oversee our funds are living large on the money.”
“We are yet to digest the Abdulrasheed Maina gate and this almost scandalous report. I just believe it is not true.”
Joyce Agbo, another retiree, stated that she had to queue for days before she collected a pittance as pension and says that is a routine every month.
She said:
“Each time they want to delay payment, we will be made to go through all sorts of verification processes.
The report threw me off balance, and I was in shock for some hours when I saw the news. It discourages hard work and encourages corruption.
Meanwhile, PenCom stated in a statement issued yesterday, September 17, 2022, that the highest salary paid is even less than N1 million.
The Commission stated that the report circulating in the media is untrue and misleading and that they must set the record straight.
PenCom speaks, set records straight
The statement said:
“Right from the inception of the Commission in 2004, the Federal Government mandated the Board to adopt an employee compensation policy that favourably compares to comparator government bodies in the financial services sector, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
“Section 25(2)(b) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 also empowers the Board of the Commission to fix the remuneration, allowances and benefits of the employees.”
According to the Commission, the Presidential Committee on the Consolidation of Emoluments in the Public Sector, headed by the late Ernest Shonekan, made a series of recommendations which act as a guide to the PenCom board.
One of the recommendations is that the pay structure of self-financed agencies should be set with the private sector competitors to ensure relativity in such agencies and attract and retain qualified professionals.
PenCom said that the position was made known to the House of Representative panel on Finance concerning the compensation package of the Commission, according Leadership newspaper.
Outrage over N2.4 million monthly salary per junior staff at PenCom
Legit.ng reported that Nigeria’s House of Representatives on Finance is investigating the National Pension Commission (PenCom) salary structure and is demanding thorough scrutiny.
In an interactive session on Thursday, September 15, 2022, the panel discovered that the Commission had budgeted N12.02 billion for staff salaries and N2.5 billion for other staff costs for this year.
The lawmakers raised queries after the Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahiru-Umar, said the Commission has about N500 staff members but needed to pay them a competitive salary, so they don’t become compromised.
Source: Legit.ng
