When one is said to have retired, it means that person has stopped doing his/her regular work. Though some people are retired on health and other related grounds, the two main grounds on which workers retire are age and years of service. And when a person’s time of retirement is at hand and former colleagues wishes him/her long and happy retirement, it is assumed that there is still a good life to expect after a life of work.

Under normal circumstances, whether in private or public, a worker is supposed to retire after years of active service. It is not as if it is only those who serve the various governments and private establishments that need retirement. No, at a certain age, every individual in society needs to retire. But, because some people are self employed, sometimes, they go on working till death come knocking or those who have good and capable children ask them to stop. And, those who walked this earth plane before us thought it wise that it be so. It is now our culture. Thanks to those who had that foresight, it must be traced to unionists.

A retiring person is expected to be given certain benefits such as gratuity and pension. While gratuity is supposed to be paid as the worker makes his/her exit, pension is expected to be a regular payment ( an amount due) until the last day of the retiree. However, it has been observed that most often, gratuities are not paid as the worker bows out. The normal complain of employers- mostly government, is that the records of retirees is the cause. They give the flimsy excuse that the retiree’s records are not complete. This is complete balderdash. What is the duty of the various personnel departments? Is it not record keeping, analysis and update? Very unfortunate it is that the public service puts itself into positions that incur the opprobrium of the larger society.

Most retirees worked really hard and endured so much insult and temptation to earn the reward of service. As Adam Smith puts it- “the real price of every thing, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it”. If then the retiree had paid the price for retirement, then the employer should not fail to keep the bargain; the retiree should not be given an excuse.

The pitiable condition of our pensioners has often propelled most concerned Nigerians into pensive moods. And much has been said and written about the plight of pensioners. Even though this problem seems to affect only government retirees, it is regrettable that most often, government turn around to express regret too. Somehow, there is now good news. The present administration, led by the indefatigable reformer, President Olusegun Obasanjo, has finally come up with a pension plan aimed at bringing succor to Nigerian pensioners. The Pension Reform Act of June, 2004, came into being with a view to reducing to the bearest minimum the difficulties encountered by our retirees. The Act recognises three main bodies that will deal with the issue of pension. First is the National Pension Commission. Another is the Pension Fund Custodian and Pension Fund Administrator. These later two bodies are organisations that must be licensed by the former.

While the National Pension Commission is charged with the responsibility of ensuring that nothing goes wrong with the new system as stipulated by the Act, it is the duty of the Pension Fund Custodians to hold the fund, while the Pension Fund Administrators manage or administer the fund. Already, the deduction at the federal level, has started since 2005 - a system which allows the employer and employee (still in service) to contribute towards the retirement of the worker at a ratio of 7.5% each. Though in the case of the military, it is 2.5% and 12.5%, with the government making higher contribution.

So far, one can recognise three licensed Pension Fund Custodian, i. e First Custodian, U.B.A Custodian and Zenith Custodian. As their name denotes, they are all financial institutions that are well managed. They keep the contributed fund. Also, there are the licensed Pension Fund Administrators (PFA), and the Premium Pension Limited, which also partners with First Custodian Nigeria Limited.

The workings of the new system is that while every employee that is contributing to the fund is expected to register with a PFA, these PFAs in turn are expected to direct all such contributions to be deposited with their choice of Pension Fund Custodian(PFC) and manage such deposits. Every employee who registers with a PFA would be given a PIN number or code which, remains for the person alone. Contributors can not withdraw from their account until they retire or are unemployed by way of lose of job and unable to find another job for up to six months.

However, all contributors are supposed to know their balance at certain intervals. And, at any time the contributor or retiree is not satisfied with any PFA, he/she has the option to change to another PFA. For now the PFAs are about six (6) in number.

With the new pension scheme, every pensioner is expected to be paid or allowed to withdraw a lump sum of money from his account, (on retirement) leaving enough in the account to enable the retiree receive an amount that will not be less than 50% of the last monthly salary on a regular basis. This depends on the agreement reached. It could be monthly or quarterly payment. The balance, which is managed by the PFA is invested in the purchase of annuity.

The most interesting aspect of the scheme is that the queues of pensioners will no longer be there. But the question is how efficient the PFAs and PFCs could be to avoid a relapse.

As sweet, colourful and hopeful as the above is, since one swallow does not make a summer, people cannot help but remember abysmal failure of the National Housing Fund, established by decree 3, of 1992. The Babangida’s administration made workers believe that as contributors to the NHF, they will own their own houses someday. And some workers, especially Federal civil servants have been contributing to this National Housing Fund (NHF) since 1993 but they are yet to see any sign of owning a house. Even if the NHF was initiated by Gen. Babangida, what stops successive administrations to enliven the vision? Or is it because later administrations were myopic not to see the need of the Fund? So, what is the guarantee that the new pension scheme would not be jettisoned by in-coming administrations?

While the above remains a puzzle, it is psychologically correct that when we have a worrisome situation as the dehumanising situation of our pensioners, any new scheme (like the Pension Reform Act, 2004), that promises a change would be accepted hook, line and sinker. Workers have little or no choice to be antagonistic towards governments supposed good intentions for them. Apart from that, workers have no choice because it has been observed that once the government is bent on a particular line of action, it goes ahead to do it. Labour is made to accept it willy-nilly.

Whether the scheme is for the benefit of the contributors-especially the workers, government should properly educate workers on the new scheme. Government should not act like a father who does not see any need to discuss with his children. Such a father may be the autocratic type; not democratic.