Reps member berates delay in pension payment

The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Rural Development, Hon Oladipupo Adebutu, has lamented the delay in paying pensions of retirees saying that the action encourages most serving civil servants in Nigeria to engage in corrupt practices.

Adebutu, a lawmaker representing Remo Federal constituency at the National Assembly disclosed this when he paid a condolence visit to the family of the late Nollywood actor, Prince Samuel Adesanya, popularly called Pastor Ajidara in Abeokuta, at the weekend.

He explained that the non payment of the workers their pension and dues would always trigger the desire to amass wealth in a shady way when they are still in service.

It was gathered that the State government was yet to pay the pension of the late actor which was put at the tune of N4 million.

Adebutu who was in the company of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains described the action of those in charge of the payment in channeling the money met to pay the pensioners for other purposes as financial rascality and unkindness.

He added the failure to pay the retirees was also sending wrong signals to upcoming generation that they would work and they won’t get their entitlements.

The lawmaker however maintained that if the various government could abide by the contracts they made with their employees, the country would be better.

“It is a settled matter that when people put a lifetime of work into a system that is pensionable, it is a contract, you should just simply pay their pension. When these pensions are not paid for various reasons, to my view it is a financial rascality, when the money is misappropriated for other purposes.

“It is unkind because when you withhold the person’s pension, you are sending the wrong signal to next generation that don’t worry but you will not necessarily get your pension, your dues and it is also destroying hope in that way and that also encourages corruption because there will be desire to amass as much as possible any which way so that when the day of pension comes they will have a nest to go back.

“If we truly abide by that contract, you work hard and you are pensionable, you get your pension then the society will be better.”

On the purpose of his visit, he said “We went to express our condolences and commiserate with the family, especially given the situation that possible positive of funds contributed to his death, we understand he needed an operation for a transplant and the sum of 1.3million was required to complete the cost of the operation and several attempts have been made to raise this amount and in fact there have been calls and appeals that his pension be paid.

“I think he had an outstanding pension of about 4million and they believed if they had received at least part of the pension, the gentle man might not have passed away. However, the pension was not paid and the outstanding was not released and the gentleman has passed away without the operation”.

On whether there should be a policy to compel governments to pay the retirees immediately after retirement, Adebutu said “yes if there is need to look at pension policy, why not but that is another matter entirely but what comes to mind right now and what is painful is that somebody that is deserving of a pension has been denied pension to the point of death, that is painful”.

The lawmaker who said he was not aware of the ailment of the actor until his death however donated the sum of N500,000 to the widow, Atinuke Adesanya and the family.