NASS Gets Kudos Over Pension Funds Management

Members of the National Assembly have been commended over their relentless efforts to institutionalise prompt payment of pensioners and efficient management and administration of pension funds in the country.

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu state  made  the commendation when members of the Senate Joint Committee of Establishment and Public Service, States and Local Governments, paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Enugu, over the weekend.

Represented on the occasion by his deputy, Mr Sunday Onyebuchi,  Governor Chime,  described the Public Service as the engine of government, adding that when there is problem in the service, it would reflect in governance.

He reasoned that if the problems of pensioners were addressed that the committee would have repositioned the nation’s Public Service, adding that some corruptions in the public service were as a result of fears by some civil servants that they would not be paid their entitlements on retirements and they tended to pay themselves while in service.

The state chief Executive, however, advised the committee to look into why efforts to address the issue in the past failed, as this would help them achieve their aim.

Governor Chime assured members of the committee of the State Government’s readiness to assist it in achieving its objectives.

Earlier in an address, the leader of the Committee, Senator Aloysius Etuk, informed the Governor that members where in Enugu to conduct a Public Hearing and Investigation into the Management and Administration of Pensions Funds and Payment of Pensioners in Nigeria as it affects the South East zone.

According to him,  the Public Hearing would enable Pensioners present their grievances, complaints and observations to the Senate through the committee for appropriate redress.

Etuk also said that the hearing was organised to collate all professional views and recommendations on how to institutionalise prompt payment of pensions and effective pension management and administration through legislation.

The Senator assured that the committee would discharge its duties and exercise the powers conferred on it by ensuring that corruption, embezzlement and misapplication of funds are exposed.

The perpetrators, he went on, would also be brought to book and all legislative remedies provided to bring to an end the agonies and pains to which pensioners had been subjected in the country for a long time.

He described pensioners as true elder statesmen who had meritoriously put all their years of youthful strength and intellect to the service of their fatherland, warning that they should not be subjected to any despair, misery or sufferings in what ever form or shape.

The committee leader used the forum to commiserate with the Governor and the people of Enugu State for the death of Ikemba  Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and observed a minute silence for the repose of his soul.