A former Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Hon Joseph Iranola Akinlaja, has raised alarm over the intention of President Bola Tinubu-led administration to use part of the over N22 trillion pension funds for infrastructure development in Nigeria.
He stressed that accountability, transparency, fiscal discipline and the rule of law should never be compromised or violated and therefore cautioned against exceeding the regulatory investment limit of the pension funds.
Akinlaja, who was also the General Secretary of Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), and a two term former member of the House of Representatives, stressed that the funds are exclusively for workers’ pensions after their retirement.
Akinlaja, who stated these on Thursday, May 8, 2025, while chatting with journalists in Lagos, urged the Federal Government to perish the plan, stressing that such a move would have potential negative consequences on Nigerian retirees who depend on their pensions after their active life in service.
He noted that Nigerians were sceptical about the President Tinubu-led administration’s intent to use pension funds to support national growth and infrastructural development, emphasising the need for the government to adhere to the provisions of the Pension Reform Act of 2014 (PRA 2014) and the revised Regulation on Investment of Pension Assets by the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
In his words; “While I have tremendous regard for this government, we must also not lose sight of some Nigerians who are sceptical about the government’s plans to use pension funds for infrastructure development. Judging from the experience of the past; many public funds had been looted, and in some cases when such looted funds were recovered they were not properly channeled to judicious use.
“As we all know this is workers’ money and all workers will not go on pension the same day. So, this gives the opportunity for the government to use such funds for public interest in record time and later repay the money back to the pension account after utilizing it accordingly and appropriately.
“Before 2003, workers in the public service were on non-contributory pension schemes. That period, the pension arrangement was not beneficial to Nigerian workers because it was subjected to budgetary vagaries of the government. “Therefore, retirees who served the nation during their youthful years were made to go through hell. These are people who have contributed to the economic development of the nation.
“It would be totally unfair to make them suffer non-payment of their pensions and gratuities as of when due. Stories abound of pensioners who slumped and died while queuing to get their pensions.
“Some pensioners even went to Abuja to picket the government, some of them slept there for months, eating and sleeping in the open air in protest against non-payment of their pensions and gratuities. Never should we go back to those dark and horrifying eras again,” he said.
