Better Days For Pensioners?

The dream of every
worker is to joyfully retire after required years of service. An employee either in private or public sector, having put all his life into active service will naturally look forward to a peaceful and rewarding retirement guaranteed by a dependable retirement policy.
Incidentally, this dream is far-fetched in Nigeria. Over the years, the story of retirees in Nigeria has been that of agony, sorrow, frustration and panic. Under payment of retirement benefits, low remittances and in some cases, non remittances of pension contributions as well as undue administrative protocols, deliberately created by some pension fund administrators, have been their lot.
The picture of haggard- looking pensioners collapsing and dying on endless queues for verification exercise is no longer news. Our senior citizens continue to suffer and wallow in abject poverty while the money meant for the welfare is embezzled by corrupt, privileged individuals. The story of how the former Police Pension boss, Yakubu Yusuf embezzled a whooping sum of N23bn meant for police retirees is still fresh in our memories.
The most worrisome thing is that there were no stringent laws to deal with these people who grew fat at the expense of the retirees. For instance, Yusuf, having pleaded guilty to the embezzlement of N23.3bn for personal use, was merely given a 2-year jail sentence with an option of N25.000.00, in addition to the forfeit of a property valued at N325million.
President Goodluck Jonathan, therefore, deserves commendation for signing the Pensions Reform Bill, 2014 into law last Tuesday. With this, the Pension Reform Act, No 2, 2004 has been repealed. The new law prescribes 10-year jail term for anybody that embezzles pension fund. It is also designed to punish offenders, with a view to serving as a deterrent to those who may want to mis-manage or divert pension fund assets.
Though some analysts have criticized the 10-year jail term as not being commensurate to the gravity of the offence, owing to the fact that the offender tampers with the life wire of weak and helpless retirees who had contributed immensely to the development of the country, it will go a long way in checking the malaise.
It is hoped that the new law which vests power in the pension commission to institute criminal proceedings against employers for persistent refusal to remit pension contributions will end the stories of illegal lodgment of funds and  prompt employers to do the needful towards ensuring better retirement of their employees.
This will no doubt enhance the productivity of the workers who will give in their best, knowing that their future is assured. It will also curtail the practice of age reduction by workers to avoid the dreaded retirement.
However, it is one thing to enact beautiful laws as this, and another to ensure that the law is adequately enforced.
Expectations were high that the now repealed 2004 pension Acts would seek an end to the nightmare by retiring workers, and reduce the stress of getting the retirement benefits. These expectations were far from being met largely due to lack of proper implementation. The same goes with several laws chuned out daily by our federal and state lawmakers aimed at making the society better, but are hardly implemented. The result is that offenders continue to go scotfree.
One therefore thinks that for the Pensions Reforms Bill 2014 to achieve its aim of putting to an end the horror and sorrow that has become synonymous with retirement in Nigeria, PenCom and other authorities responsible for its implementation must be up and doing. Others living in sane societies all over the world expect retirement with enthusiasm and even pray for it because of the numerable gains therein. Can the new pensions law help us achieve this for Nigerian retirees? Time will tell.

Calista Ezeaku