By Henry Ojelu

Pensioners of Chevron of Nigeria, PenCoN have demanded proper recognition from the management of Chevron Nigeria Closed Pension Funds Administrator, CNCPFA, in the administration of affairs of pensioners and retirees of the company.

In a letter addressed to the managing director of CNCPFA, through its legal counsel, the Chambers of Evans Ufeli, the association claimed that its members initially belonged to Chevron Retirees Association of Nigerian, CRAN, but opted to form PenCoN when they discovered that CRAN lacked the capacity to represent them having been incorporated as a limited liability company.

The letter signed by Evans Ufeli noted that since its registration last year, and several letters intimating CNCPFA of the development, the funds administrator have refused to heed the demands that PenCoN officials and its members be carried along in the affairs of pensioners and retirees of Chevron Nigeria.

Describing CNCFA’s action as a contravention of Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Pension Reform Act 2014, PenCoN said it may resort to legal action if its members remained locked out of the management of their pensions affairs..

The letter reads: ” It is an irrefutable fact that our client (being a duly registered body corporate) has not been duly carried along in the dealings of its affairs as stakeholders, which is clearly a gross violation of the extant laws on employment and pension in Nigeria. This disregard to critical legislation of the Nigerian state is intolerably repulsive to say the least. As a Pension Fund Custodian, your body is duty bound to recognize all stakeholders as it does not lie in your powers to cherry pick whom to regard and disregard. 

“In the case under reference, your body by its poignant action, has inadvertently fostered an atmosphere of differences, stimulated by its preference to deal with CRAN at the expense of our client, thereby flaring the embers of hostility, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth of concerned and affected Nigerian citizens, who all gave a better part of their youth and adult lives serving your organisation meritoriously.”

“It is wherefore, our specific demand that your organisation acts accordingly forthwith, by paying cognisance to our client, being a duly registered body.”

In a separate letter to the National Pension Commission, NPC, dated October 3, the association also alleged that CNCPFA outsourced the management of its members pension funds to a third party  without their consent and demanded urgent investigation of the matter.