By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

WORRIED by report of massive unremitted pension funds by Private sector employers to the Retirement Saving Account, RSA, of workers, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is to partner the National Pension Commission, PenCom, to ensure that such funds are recovered and remitted appropriately.

PenCom has continued to lament the unwillingness of some private sector organisations to remit the monthly contributions as and when due for which the Commission engaged recovery agents.

According to the commission “We have over 172 of them both lawyers and chartered accountants. They will go to various businesses to ensure they comply. If they do not comply of course we will take the next step which is to ensure compliance and may include taking a legal action against them. For those who are complying that is what we want. The only way is for them to comply and if they do not, the only option we have to take the appropriate action.”

*Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, NLC President

But speaking with Pension and You, President of NLC Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar said “So far, PenCom is doing its level best, but up to eight states have not even commenced the implementation of the contributory pension scheme, which is very, very bad. If you look at it, those governments, they are committing very serious offence because the issue of pension is provided by law.

The question is, are they above the law? We are going to resolve with PenCom that we are going to work together and approach those states, let them know the implication of what they are doing by not complying with the provisions of the law.

We will appeal to them and perhaps they will see reasons and implement after then, any government that decides not to implement, that means that government does not respect the rule of law and does not respect the constitution and therefore, we will ask workers in such states to begin to behave in the same manner.”

“What keeps every society moving peacefully is the obedience to the rule of law. But if highly placed people like the chief executives of states would refuse to comply with the provisions of the law, how will you expect the common man to respect the law.

If you find a government that ready to trample on the constitution and the law when such a person has taken an oath to defend the constitution and he is still violating it, what do you expect from somebody who has not taken an oath at all? They should also violate it and let us see at the end of the day, who will better for it. We are ready to partner PenCom to recover unremitted funds and deal with such employers where necessary.”

On the recalcitrance of some private employers to remit deducted pension funds, Comrade Omar said, “the era where employers deduct workers’ contribution to pension scheme and will not remit such especially in the private sector, will soon stop. We are trying to fashion out ways of addressing it to get those employers to remit accordingly. But if they do not, they will bear the brunt because the law must be visited on them and there must bear it.”