Pension Act Amendment: How sacked PenCom DG ‘bribed’ NASS

. Allegedly compromised lawmakers of the 7th Assembly with N500m

. PenCom not aware of such transaction – Spokesman

Fresh facts have revealed that the sacked Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, allegedly compromised both chambers of the 7th National Assembly to amend the previous law on pension with the 2014 Pension Reform Act in order to qualify as the substantive DG of PenCom.

But the act of compromising the federal lawmakers allegedly took place between 2013 and 2014 during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

This is even as Mrs. Anohu – Amazu has vehemently denied the allegations, saying that there is no iota of truth in the alleged bribing of lawmakers with N500 million in order to amend the pension law.

A former prominent member of the Senate committee on Pensions and his counterpart at the House of Representatives Committee on Pension Matters were said to have been compromised with N500 million to ensure a smooth and timely sail of the amendment bill.

Our source alleged that the senator had on behalf of the then committee and other stakeholders collected N500 million to share amongst the committee members of both chambers of the National Assembly.

The source, who sought anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the matter, also disclosed that there are records in PenCom of all the money that was spent to ensure the quick amendment of the bill.

According to the source, the sole aim of amending the Bill was to reduce the “competence in the qualification for appointment as the DG of PenCom from 20 years cognate experience in the industry to 15 years’ so as to enable
Anohu-Amazu who was then the Acting Director General qualify to be appointed substantive DG of the commission.

The Daily Times recalls that Mrs. Anohu-Amazu acted for one year and eight months (18 months) as Acting Director while the bill was being repealed by the National Assembly and was immediately appointed substantive Director General when the bill was signed into law.

She took over in December 2012 as the Acting DG of PenCom and on October 2014 she was confirmed as substantive DG of PenCom.

When confronted with how the amendment came and scaled a through, an industry player, who also pleaded anonymity, said, “the way and manner the immediate past PenCom DG was removed shows that the government had lost faith, confidence in the capacity and ability of the person that was in charge of PenCom .”

Lamenting the development, the source added: “I can only say that it was unprecedented and could not had been contemplated and could not have been envisaged that a law would be made or a bill would be amended for the sole purpose of satisfying the whims and caprices of an individual or group.

“Bills and laws are made for the national interest. This particular amendment of the 2014 Pension Reform Act was not in National interest, it was amended for the sole purpose of satisfying an individual; Chinolu Anohu -Amazu for her to be appointed as the substantive DG of the PenCom.”

The expert further said: “It is not sufficient to simply ask her to leave. I also understand that the DSS operatives are on her trails, but more importantly for our history, and for good order and corporate governance, it will be very interesting that the law enforcement agency go after her and find out exactly what happened. This is because it was very unprecedented in the history of Nigeria that a law would be amended in the manner the Pension Reform Act was amended for the purpose of one person to be a beneficiary of that law.”

He further disclosed that it has never happened in the history of Nigeria that one person had to function in an acting capacity for a year and eight months to enable her to amend that law for her to qualify to be appointed the substantive DG of an agency.

He added that there was the need for the law enforcement agencies to unravel the motive behind the infamous amendment.

He said: “I know, and I have been told that in the National Pension Commission, the way money was moved to enable this to be done is documented and government can always find out all those resources and money that was moved and to whom it was moved to enable this law to be amended and then bring the perpetrators to book.

The expert also called for the review of the amendment to the 2014 Pension Reform Act on the grounds that the action of the then lawmakers was not altruistic but personal aggrandizement.

He said: “Also, for good order, it will also be very important that government tracked down that bill, it is a bill that was not done for the interest of this country. If there are relevant sections in that Act that government could find that is interesting, that is necessary for the industry, then that could be accommodated in a bill that will be amended and beneficial to the industry and the entire country.

“The pension industry anywhere in the world is a critical part of the economy. Not only the DG was removed, but the entire management of the commission was removed as a consequence of that. It speaks volume of how much the people in authority saw them and the capacity with which they handled the affairs of the National Pension Commission.”

Chinelo Anohu-Amazu had served as the pioneer Director/Secretary/Legal Adviser of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) for two terms before becoming the Acting Director General in 2012, and named substantive DG in December
2014 after the Act was amended.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Anohu-Amazu has vehemently denied the allegations, saying that there is no iota of truth in the alleged bribing of lawmakers with N500 million in order to amend the pension law.

According to her, she has served the country meritoriously, saying that her track records in PenCom can be verified as she single handedly changed the fortunes of the commission for the better.

Anohu- Amazu, who spoke through one of her aides, said the allegations are laughable as the bill to amend the pension law came from the then executive. She also said that no amount of mudslinging would change her far reaching accomplishments and innovations at PenCom.

The aide, who did not want his name in print, said: “The allegations are baseless and unfounded. In the first place, why would she bribe lawmakers for executive bill from the then Federal Government? And where would she get that kind of money? We know that these allegations are coming from her detractors but she is focused as this period will soon pass away.

“They (the detractors) can’t change what she has put in place in PenCom. Her remarkable records at the place are indelible. We challenge them to controvert her initiatives and unprecedented achievements.
“Please note that her tenure as DG recorded a geometric rise in pension assets, which stood at N2.4 trillion in 2014 and was N6.5 trillion at the time of her exit from the commission.

“Before then, she was a member of Pension Reform Committee of 2004 that introduced Contributory Pension Scheme in Nigeria.

“The Act, which repealed the Pension Reform Act No.2, 2004, has continued to govern and regulate the administration of the uniform Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for both the public and private sectors in Nigeria.

When The Daily Times contacted the Head, Corporate Communication of PenCom, Mr. Emeka Onuora, on Friday, at the headquarters of the Commission in Abuja over the allegations, he denied having any knowledge of such transaction.

He said: “I don’t know anything concerning what you are talking about. This issue you are talking about took place about four years ago, how could I have known. Such issues are

Also, the arrowhead senator who played active part in the 7th Assembly when the PenCom Act was amended, denied the allegation of bribery, saying that “it is impossible for us to receive such an amount while doing our work”.

The senator, who sought anonymity and unable to return to the Senate under the present dispensation, said: “When the then executive brought the bill, we saw it as a good idea and opportunity for the youth to be involved in leading role in governance. I don’t see anything wrong with reducing the years of qualification from 25 to 15 years cognate experience.

“Multinational companies and other leading private sector organisations in the country do appoint people that are 25 years old or less to head big organisations; who has ever asked? And we are talking about 25 years cognate experience; before one can qualify to occupy an office, that means the person must have attained the age of 45 or more if he or she graduated at the age of 20. So we felt that the 2004 Pension Reform Act did not provide room for a young person to occupy that office.”

The senator further defended the lawmakers, saying that the amendment was done in the interest of younger generation and inclusive development of the country.

He said: “The amendment was done in the interest of younger generation. The then Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) saw it as an opportunity for youths and younger generation to have a leading role in governance of the country. The youths were complaining, we saw it as an opportunity for the youths.

“It is not the Committee that passed the Bill, it is the entire National Assembly.

“No member of the committee was compromised, the bill was passed almost unanimously.

“When you are talking about the National Assembly, you are talking about very intelligent set of people. If they suspect at all that you collect money for a bill to be passed, they will block it.”

The senator further asked, “What is wrong with given opportunity to somebody who is 35 years old? I did it as a service and it is a credit to the nation.”

On the issue of alleged employment of some candidates from the lawmakers, especially his son, the senator replied that, “It’s a general thing. If there is a vacancy and you have a child, is it a bad thing? The question should be, is the person qualified? My son has a Masters Degree in Finance, and had 2.1 in Economics. Again, the boy was employed below the rank of his qualification. Over 200 people were employed, was it only my son that was employed?
Some people had over 20 candidates, some 2-5 candidates and you are talking about one child.

“What I did was a service to the nation. If you go to court of public opinion, I will ask for five per cent of all the money I led government to recover then and that will amount to a huge sum. What did I get for all my efforts? Nothing!

When one of our correspondents visited the corporate headquarters of PenCom on Firday, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) were seen stationed at the main gate of PenCom.

The Daily Times recalls that the DSS raided the corporate headquarters of PenCom penultimate Friday when it was reported that the sacked DG and her management team that were sacked were tampering with official document in the office.

Although the DSS had denied the issue of raid, the service said: “We had an intelligence information that some documents are being tampered with, some documents were being signed and backdated at the PenCom office following the announcement of a new management of the commission. And we were only being pro-active by ordering all officials there to stop forthwith any action on official documents pending when the new management will assume duty.”

“What we did was to put a standby team at the office to prevent anybody from tampering or altering any document unlawfully or without due process.”