By ADAMU RABIU

On the eve of his departure from office in May 2023, former President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the “Bill for the Creation of the National Assembly Service Pension Board and for Related Matters” which was tabled before the National Assembly, NASS, for the selfish aggrandizement of the NASS. Meanwhile the sole purpose of this  legislative high-handedness  was to take the employees of the NASS off the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, and return them to the Defined Benefit Scheme, DBS, at the expense and detriment of the public treasury.

The NASS took this route after the exemption granted to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, HCSoF, and Permanent Secretaries, Perm Secs, following the jaundiced opinion  given by the erstwhile minister of justice.

Everything about the National Assembly Pension Bill was  shrouded in secrecy,  hushed, rushed and speedily passed. The act is akin to ambushing Nigerians and Nigeria in broad daylight. The pension industry is still dazed by such  wanton legislative manoeuvre  and it has further depleted the members of the CPS, thus putting the scheme in jeopardy and causing disaffection amongst the citizenry thus further dividing the oneness that the country so dearly desires.

Legislative luxury

The NASS Pension Board Bill introduces an exclusive pension scheme that provides NASS staff with  unprecedented heaven -on-earth benefits. Meanwhile, there are countless retirees yet to receive their outstanding gratuities nor pension nor both with pension debt mounting on the federal and state governments.

This luxury pension includes:

-Exempting them from the CPS, which has been the cornerstone of public servant pensions in Nigeria.

-Increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

-Qualifying for the luxury after serving for 40 years or reaching age 65.

-Voluntary retirement qualifies one after at least 10 years of service.

-Upon compulsory retirement for efficiency or economy improvements.

-The pension benefits are a statutory charge on the CRF.

-The bill offers generous retirement benefits, including a 500 per cent   annual net emolument retirement package; this substantial payout upon retirement is significantly higher than what most workers receive. And the payment is to be made at the commencement of their mandatory three months’ terminal leave.  This is fantastic!

-Granting substantial gratuities at 300 per cent of annual gross emoluments.

-A yearly medical allowance of 50 per cent   of net emoluments.

Compare this stealing of our common patrimony with the refusal of most state governments and the Federal Government to pay the paltry sum of  NGN30,000  as monthly salary!

A Law unto themselves

By this law the pension scheme is now facing serious challenge of being undermined from all facet of the Nigerian workforce in the same breath the new law has upturned other laws, policies, scheme of service, etc. Below are just a few such truncation

The NASS Pension Law is in direct conflict with the decision of the Federal Government to retain the personnel of Federal Government under the CPS as contained in the 2012 White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Committee on the Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies.

The National Council on Establishments, the highest policy body set up to regulate, unify and standardise the Nigerian Civil Service on issues relating to staff establishments, salary structure, grading, conditions and schemes of service has been sidelined here.

The HCSoF is the office that advises on the statutory retirement age for employees of the Federal Civil Service through the Public Service Rules. By this law the National Assembly Service is now reoved from its purview.

Additionally, the bill’s passage lacks legal and ethical considerations as it did not follow due legislative process, lacking public hearings and excluding input from critical stakeholders.

A precedent of privileges

The NASS Pension Act has further distanced and separated itself from the general Nigerian populace and potentially entrenching the dangerous precedent of self-serving governance practices we see in Nigeria today.

The National Assembly (so-called elected representatives and workers), simply for finding themselves within its structures,  have termed themselves as super humans, above all laws and operating independently, thus prioritising its members’ interests over national concerns and our well-being.

To bring to the fore, before this unholy pension law, the NASS has set up:

-Its own hospital

-Its own budget

-Its own salary scale

-Its own constituency allowance

-Soon it will set up its central bank and market.

Is the National Assembly independent of the nation it is meant to serve?

Taking Nigerians for granted

The usual senseless reasons given are:

-Critical Role: That their work is essential for governance, legislation, and oversight. They claim that their distinct functions warrant special treatment(meaning Nigeria will cease to exist without NASS!).

-Risk and Stress: That their position involves stress, risks, spending long hours, public scrutiny, and political pressure and so they deserve generous retirement packages. (They forgot they are mere servants of Nigerians!)

-Attracting Talent: By offering exclusive perks, they aim to retain skilled professionals.  (The only saving grace is being in NASS; in the real world they lack life skills)

-Historical Precedent: They point to precedents set by previous legislative assemblies.  (Doing the wrong thing is now the new normal in Nigeria!)

The consequences

If this is allowed to stand, pertinent issues such as  funding of pension liability,  raising the budgetary ceiling, the  potential debt burden on the consolidated revenue fund, the  amendment of retirement age, etc, will mean they will perpetuate themselves on their seats for life; meanwhile, Nigeria’s population is growing and nothing in place to take care of this generation and future generations, including their grand and great grandchildren.

The growing sense of disillusionment

The bodies of Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs; Pension Fund Custodians, PFCs; Closed Pension Fund Administrators, CPFAs; National Pension Commission, PenCom; and Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, PenOp, have all condemned the Bill.

And I ask: Will Nigeria be able to survive all this haemorrhage?

•Rabiu, a Monitoring and   Evaluation Specialist on Policy, Finance, Risk, Politics, Good Governance and   an Advocate for Sustainable Development, wrote from Kaduna.