Anambra NLC expresses dismay over non take off of CPS

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Anambra State, on Tuesday in Awka, expressed dismay over the non take off of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in the state.
The state congress chairman, Jerry Nnubia, said the implementation could not begin because of inability of the state government to meet basic conditions for the scheme, saying the scheme could not commence as scheduled.
Nnubia said the Anambra government had not met the conditions of the CPS, which include constitution of the Contributory Pension Management Board (CPSMB) and full remittance of funds.
According to Nnubia, the Anambra State House of Assembly passed the law for the scheme in 2014, but it could not commence as proposed in order not to jeopardise the interest of the retirees.
“The law for the commencement of Contributory Pension Scheme in Anambra has been passed since 2014 and it is supposed to take effect in July 2017. That means people that retired as from July 2017 who are supposed to begin their pension through CPS as against the old Pay As You Go system cannot.
“But there are issues already the state government has not fully implemented the law which has some precondition including putting a solid structure for effective takeoff. One is that there should be Contributory Pension Management Board (CPMB) for both the state and local government workers,” he said.
He called for amendment of the law and urgent constitution of the CPSMB.
“Labour looked at it that there is no way the scheme can take effect without this basics and those who have retired, there should be a bond, issued to the CBN to take care of them, but government has not done that.
“These are the problems, so if we allow the commencement date to prevail it means that our people that will be retiring from this month will be trapped. There won’t be fund to take care of them and their fate would have been jeopardised.
“That is the reason why we engaged the government and made it to understand that it is not ready for effective take-off, so it should be put on hold until the law is amended. We also demanded that there should be extension of period of people that would be captured.
“Those that have up to 10 years and above should be those that are qualified to join the scheme, so that they would have contributed enough. The former law says three years but that is not enough, we are calling for constitution of the board and amendment of the Law,” the NLC leader said.

Emmanuel Ndukuba