Hundreds of retirees in Ogun State staged a protest on Monday, Dember 8, demanding the immediate suspension of the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS, and the remittance of nearly 18 years of alleged unremitted pension deductions.
The retirees took their demonstration to the Governor’s office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, carrying placards and voicing grievances over what they described as systemic neglect of their welfare.
They accused successive administrations of violating the laws governing the pension scheme and abandoning workers who had served the state for decades. The protesters argued that the CPS, introduced in 2008 with a mandatory 7.5 percent contribution from both employees and the government, had failed from the outset due to non-remittance by the state.
Although deductions were reportedly taken consistently from workers’ salaries, the retirees claimed the state failed to remit both employee contributions and its counterpart funding into their Retirement Savings Accounts, RSA, leaving many with less than N3 million after more than 30 years of service.
They further alleged that gratuities under the old Defined Benefit Scheme were also not credited to their accounts, blaming past administrations for repeatedly shifting implementation timelines and ignoring statutory obligations.
The protesters maintained that the current administration has not remitted CPS deductions since assuming office, insisting the scheme should be suspended until all arrears from 2008 are cleared.
Describing the scheme as a killer policy, the protesters’ spokesperson Daniel Adetunji Akanji said retirees were experiencing severe financial hardship and emotional distress.
“Many of them are unable to afford proper healthcare or fund the education of their children,” he said.
Akanji added that some retirees had died prematurely due to lack of financial support and appealed to Governor Dapo Abiodun to suspend the scheme for at least five years or cancel it entirely until all outstanding deductions and gratuities are settled.
He also criticized labour unions, including the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Trade Union Congress, TUC, and Joint Negotiation Committee, JNC, accusing them of failing to defend workers’ interests by signing agreements with the government without proper consultation.
Akanji questioned why individuals exempted from the CPS or already benefiting from the Defined Benefit Scheme were appointed to committees overseeing the policy’s implementation.
Responding to the protest, the Permanent Secretary of the Bureau of State Pensions, Arinola Adetayo, urged retirees to remain calm and assured them that the government had approved processes for remitting arrears and crediting their Retirement Savings Accounts. She noted that payments would be made once retirees completed their documentation with the bureau, warning that those who had not submitted their files might experience delays.
Adetayo further explained that after the current palliative payments, monthly pensions would begin reflecting from their RSA accounts and additional benefits would be provided. She urged retirees to complete all necessary paperwork to ensure smooth processing of outstanding entitlements.
Despite these assurances, the retirees continued to call for the suspension of the Contributory Pension Scheme, insisting that in its current form, it fails to protect their welfare or reflect their years of public service.
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