The North-South Economists’ Forum, NSEF, a focus group of development economists, has applauded Delta Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, for showing more than a passing interest in the management of pensions in his state.

The Group said those who criticize the governor for allegedly neglecting local government pensioners do so either because they lack understanding of the new contributory pension scheme, or out of sheer mischief.

Delta state witnessed a protest recently by retired local government workers and primary school teachers during which some of the protesters called out the governor for not addressing their plight.

But in a statement on Sunday signed by its Chairman, Malam Ahmed Abdulkadir and Secretary, Dr. Chima Eboh, the body of development economists faulted the argument of the protesters, saying it smacks of ignorance and a lack of understanding of the dialectics and economics of the reformed pension administration in the country.

NSEF said rather than blame Okowa for the pension arrears of retired primary school teachers and local government workers, the protesters should direct their angst at their respective local government chairmen whose responsibility it is to administer local government and primary school pensions.

The group which said it had undertaken a state-by-state analysis of pensions management in Nigeria ranked Delta among the top states in Nigeria that have successfully migrated from the old pension scheme to the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

As at November last year, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in its report said only four states – Lagos, Osun, Kaduna, Delta and the FCT – were paying pensions to retirees under the CPS. PenCom noted that only these four states and the FCT were funding the accrued rights (benefits under the old pension scheme that the retirees are also entitled to).

The body of economists said these four states and the FCT could be said to be performing their pensions duties effectively without short-changing their retirees, explaining that pensioners in these four states and FCT are the only pensioners that get the full benefits of the contributory pension in addition to their benefits under the old scheme.

“Our study showed that Delta government under Okowa is among the few state governments that have shown genuine sincerity at understanding and implementing the CPS. We think it borders on lack of understanding that pensioners in Delta, one of the best performing states in pensions management in the country, are the ones protesting especially when the government has published its synergy with local governments to ensure that all pension arrears of primary school teachers and local government retirees are cleared.

“Except there is more to the protest than we can fathom, we do not see any need for the protests,” the statement said.

Recall that PenCom had in a report last November said that no fewer than 20 states were yet to commence the payment of pensions to retirees after opting to join the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

Titled, ‘Level of Implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme by states as of June 2021’, the report revealed that 24 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had enacted laws to join the scheme. Only four states – Lagos, Osun, Kaduna, Delta and the FCT are paying pensions to retirees under the CPS and funding the accrued rights (benefits under the old pension scheme that the retirees are also entitled to).”

It would be recalled that following the protest by retiree teachers of primary schools in the state, the state government through the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, explained that upon assumption of office in 2015, the government discovered that workers under local government administration which included retired primary school teachers were owed several months of salary arrears.

The government explained that after reviewing the situation, Governor Okowa had to assist local governments with N600 million monthly to augment in defraying the salary arrears.

According to Aniagwu, a N3 billion grant was further extended to the local government councils to address the salary issues and get them out of the woods.

“In the area of pension, we have been assisting the local government councils to meet their obligations; since inception, Okowa had on monthly basis released N150 million to the local government councils.

“After three years, he increased the pension support from N150 million to N300 million and later to N500 million monthly to fast-track the payment of the backlog of pension owed local government workers including the primary school teachers in the state,” he said.

He added: “By this intervention, the state government has reduced the burden of pension arrears owed the local government workers to 2018 and for the primary school teachers, who were owed several years of pension, we have pushed it up to 2016.”

Aniagwu, said that the state government was ready to commit about N10 billion grant to the local government councils to clear pension matters in the state which informed the recent demand for N150 billion bridging finance by the government.