The pension emoluments under the Defined Benefit Scheme should be reviewed upwards to align with present realities. The pensioners under this scheme retired from service when the minimum wage was N5,000. The computation of emoluments under the scheme was, therefore, based on N5,000.
However, since then, the minimum wage has been increased to N7,500, N18,000, N30,000 and now N70,000.
Since these increments were made, the pension entitlements which were calculated with the basic salary of N5,000 have remained the same. Some pensioners are still receiving as little as N2,000 per month.
The National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) has been given the responsibility to adjust the pension entitlements every five years in accordance with constitutional provision. However, what the commission does is to award arbitrary percentages to pensioners. The formula or yardstick they use defies logic as they do not factor the inflationary trends into their decision.
They make these awards every five years when the minimum wage is increased. While the minimum wage is increased exponentially, the pensions are increased marginally.
Over the years, since 2003, the highest percentage of increment given to pensioners was 33 per cent in 2010. As the commission does not use any known criteria or yardstick, they have even awarded as little as six per cent to pensioners. How do they award the pensioners this marginal increase after five years and expect them to survive on it?
It is a fact that despite the percentage awards, the pension emoluments of a typical pensioner whose pension was N2,000 has not risen up to N10,000 since 2003.
It is well known that pensioners don't have a voice and cannot speak for themselves. And a dog that can bark but cannot bite is usually overlooked. A case in point is the N25,000 palliative the president announced to be given to the pensioners which has been overlooked and forgotten. No pensioner received the award, and they continue to suffer in silence.
The government should consider using the new minimum wage of N70,000 as a basic or template to recompute pension emoluments. If the minimum wage for the workers is increased by 100 per cent, the same rate of increment should be used to adjust the pensions. All categories of wage earners are in the same ship navigating stormy waters. It is discriminatory to give workers a 100 per cent increase and give the pensioners less in the same economy.
This view accords with the thoughts of the Senate President, Goodwill Akpabio. At plenary after the bill for the minimum wage was passed, he said that the minimum wage was for every worker, including artisans and people who were doing menial jobs.
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If the idea for the minimum wage is to enable workers to meet up with the increasing cost of living and cushion the effects of hyperinflation, the pensioner should get it. He is also affected by the vagaries of economic hardship.
Without doubt, the pensioners are no longer in service but the bills are there and increasing. And they don't have any other means to settle these bills which are piling up.
It is, therefore, equitable that they should be given minimum pension. It is not right to give civil servants minimum wage without giving the pensioners the minimum amount that can sustain them. As they say, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
Frank George can be reached via [email protected]
