Ogun workers begin strike over N82bn pension deductions

Gov Abiodun

The organised labour in Ogun State, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and Joint Negotiating Council, on Monday, directed the entire workforce in the state to proceed on indefinite strike.

The development was a result of an unremitted N82bn contributory pension deduction spanning 14 years.

This was contained in a document signed by the leadership of the NLC, TUC and JNC and made available to The PUNCH on Monday.

The decision to embark on the trade disputes was said to have been taken at the statewide congress held on Monday, where the workers voted for indefinite suspension of their services over the dysfunctional Ogun State Pension Reform Law 2008 and amended 2013.

The 2013 Pension amended law is said to have established the Contributory Pension Scheme which stipulated that both employers and employees should contribute a set aside monthly savings of 7.5 per cent each of the basic salary of the workers, which is to be kept by appointed pension fund administrators.

The labour claimed that practically, in its 17 years of its passage as a law, from all indicators, the CPS has, at best, been practised in complete breach of the law that established it.

The statement stated that “Accessible records on it established the incontrovertible fact that it has rather been a drain of resources for the workers, and curiously, a wage lowering tactic for successive governments of the state.

“Only 34 months (that is, three years less than two months) of the expected 204 months (17 years) of the deductions from both sides, i.e. the state/local governments were remitted to the PFAs.

“In the last 14 years, and still counting, monthly deductions only from workers’ salaries have been diligently consistent without remittance to their PFAs.