Vanguard,THURSDAY, MAY 09, 2013—53
Union Bank pensioners petition PenCom, allege breach of Pension Reform Act
O
BYVICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG
U
NION Bank pensioners, have petitioned the National Pension Commission, PenCom, accusing the management of the bank of breach of the Pension Reform Act, PRA, 2004, to their detriment. Under the umbrella of Union Bank Pensioners Association, UBPA, they listed existing Pension Scheme in Union Bank of Nigeria, UBN, Plc before commencement of the Pension Reform Act, computation of legacy fund entitlement, lump sum withdrawal- Legacy fund, interest payment on the legacy fund and actuarial valuation as their major areas of grouse. In the petition by the Acting National President and National Secretary, Abdu Gaba and B. Oduntayo among others, the pensioners urged PenCom to arrange a meeting within 14 days with the elected representatives of the staff, pensioners and management of the Bank, to enable them find a lasting solution to problem before it degenerated into major crisis. According to the petition, “One major issue that came out of the meeting held with Union Bank Management, Pensioners’ Association, Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs, and your office on 19thMarch, 2013 was that although Union Bank initially submitted an application to continue with the closed Pension Scheme, but they subsequently and unilaterally withdrew this application without due consultation with the stakeholders. Furthermore, it was also reported that Union Bank Management expressed their unwillingness to continue with the closed Pension Scheme, again without due consultation with other stakeholders.” “It is our position that Union Bank management cannot unilaterally withdraw from the scheme without the agreement of other stakeholders. It is interesting to note that Union Bank entered into a contract of service with each employee to pay their pension for life. Any unilateral variation of the contract under the dubious guise of compliance with the PRA cannot be supported either in Law or logic. It is a trite Law that equity will not allow any person to profit
Acting Director-General of PenCom, Chinalo Anohu-Amazu
Group MD/Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Union Bank of Nigeria, Plc, Emeka Emuwa
from his/her own wrong. When viewed against the above premise, the purported withdrawal of the application to continue the closed Pension scheme is a legal nullity. The Management of UBN should therefore revert to the status quo ante in the payment of pensions.” The Pensioners said “In the meeting of March 19, 2013, the Pensioners’ Association was told that what was credited to the PFAs was not legacy fund entitlement but “accrued rights”. We beg to disagree because whatever names you give to it will not alter the rights of beneficiaries under the PRA. It is a well known fact that UBN, before the enactment of the PRA, had in existence a well managed in-house Pension Scheme. Regrettably, UBN management since 2010 resented the in-house closed Pension Scheme, and thus pursued, at various occasions, its plans to exit the in-house Scheme. However, it was told in very clear language that UBN cannot exit the scheme without complying with Section39 of the PRA. “The adequacy of the legacy fund payment to each beneficiary is questionable. The management of UBN does not want to comply with any of the above require-
ments but has continued to maintain a belligerent posture under the guise of complying with the PRA. A cursory review of the various sums credited to the PFAs against the last monthly Pension of each beneficiary indicate that their share of the legacy fund can only support monthly payments for about three years on the average. The question that readily calls for asking is what will be the means of sustenance of the Pensioners thereafter? The object of the PRA is to guarantee a good standard of living for the Pensioners. The PRA was not enacted to reduce the retirement benefits of employees. In the circumstance, any manipulation to place the pensioners and employees at a disadvantage will be resisted. “The computation of the legacy entitlements should be predicated on the contracts of employment of individual employee as expressed in the Trust Deed. Therefore, any formula which failed to take into account the employees’ years of service, income, percentage of Pension entitlement and expected life span is dubious and unacceptable. We insist that the basis of computation should be known or the payment to the various PFAs will be regarded as ex-gratia payment pending the payment of legacy fund entitlements.”
N12bn Pension Scam: More troubles for accused M ORE troubles are on the way for Teidi Shuaibu and 39 other persons standing trial for allegedly siphoning N12 billion Federal Civil servants’ pension funds. Teidi, a former Director of Pension Administration in the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and others were also standing trial for the missing funds. Though the accused were last week discharged by the Federal High Court, Abuja, they were immediately re-arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. It will be recalled that the accused were first arraigned on March 24, 2011, on a 134count charge for allegedly defrauding the pension department, Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, of N12 billion
Labour seeks protection of pension funds
pension funds. Discharging them, Justice Adamu Bello said the court’s action was at the instance of the EFCC which prayed for separate trial of the suspects. He said the prosecution had formally withdrawn the old charges against the accused to create room for the filing of fresh ones. Justice Bello said “This is the only workable option and in the light of the above, the case file will be re-assigned by the authority of the Federal High Court. The 40 accused are hereby discharged and are no more before this court.” At the resumed hearing in the case, the prosecuting counsel, Chief Godwin Obla, announced that his client gave him an instruction to further break up the accused for separate trial. He said “My client has instructed me
to withdraw an amended charge dated July 26, 2011 comprising 40 accused persons, to give room for separate trial and good case management. We have filed seven sets of charges pursuant to this instruction and will be applying for permission to substitute the earlier charges with the one filed on March 14. The application is brought pursuant to sections 155 and 168 of the Criminal Procedure Act, CPA. My Lord, this is to reflect the extent of the alleged complicity and participation of the related parties.” Leading other defence counsels to oppose the application, Mr Sunday Ameh, SAN, said the move would erode the progress so far made in the case. According to them, the former charges should be left to stand as each accused person understands the allegation against him or her.
RGANISED Labour has called for legislation and policy that will not only safeguard the over N3 trillion contributed so far, but will severely deal with those who temper with these contributions It equally urged President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately constitute the Board of the National Pension Commission, PenCom, to give it sense of direction to the commission. Speaking during the national May Day celebration in Abuja, President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Abdulwaheed Omar, said only the full compliments of seasoned and dedicated board and qualified management that has integrity could moderate or even stop PenCom According to him “Of particular pain to us is the monumental corruption of those charged with administering pensions which has now come to lime light. The looting of pension funds while pensioners wait and die is a crime against humanity which must be made to attract the severest punishment possible. Recent revelations on various scams have indicated the extent of vulnerability of workers’ welfare funds in Nigeria in brazen day light, workers’ pension entitlement are stolen with impunity. While labor acknowledges the efforts been made to deal with these scams, it will undoubtedly continue to fight to ensure that all pensions receive their entitlement as at when due. In this regard, labor will be on the look out to preserve the interest of existing pensioners, and that of workers in the new pension regime.” “In furtherance of this, we call for legislation and policy that will not only safeguard the over N3 trillion contributed so far, but will severely deal with those who temper with these contributions. Given the ease with which these funds are stolen and the reluctance of government to deal with the criminals decisively, organized labour wishes to demand a bigger role in the administration of these funds. We also call for the strengthening of the internal governance of the pension regime.” He added that “In this regard, government should without further delay, appoint the board and management of PenCom, as only the full compliments of seasoned and dedicated board and qualified management that has integrity could moderate or even stop these incidence of scams.”