The senator representing Ogun Central senatorial district of Ogun in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly, Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, has called for total reform of pension administration and management in Nigeria to give people confidence and trust in the system.
Salisu, who is the chairman, Senate Committee on ICT and Cyber Security, made the call in Abuja today in his keynote address at the launch of a book, “Understanding Pension Administration and Management in the Contemporary World”, authored by Head, Internal Audit Unit of Pension Transition Arrangement Directorate (PTAD), Dr Imran Saheed Adekunle.
The senator said the current administration of President Bola Tinubu was embarking on various reforms, government and stakeholders must also take a look at pension administration and management with a view to taking it to a notch higher than it is now.
According to him, Nigerian would have confidence and trust in the administration when they were sure that they have their pensions and social security system in place.
“When you have things like pension and social security system, these are things that give the citizens the confidence and trust in the administration.
“A number of reforms is going on in the country now. As you are fully aware, we have tax reform bills that are before the National Assembly.
“We have a number of reforms this administration has initiated. Some of them come with immediate pains. Some of them have long term benefits.
“But as we are doing so, we must take a look at our pension administration and management. I believe a book like this will also contribute in our search for a more sustainable, a more accountable and a more transparent administration of pension in the country,” Salisu said.
He submitted that all relevant and critical stakeholders in the Nigerian pension administration and management sector needed to get copies of the book in order to “begin to see what we need to do and ensure that pension administration in the country takes a notch higher than it is now”.
The senator lamented the trend among Nigerian youths to resort to cybercrimes, saying that he is sometimes depressed knowing what the youth are using social media to take to crimes.
“Our young men take to social media, they want to take to “Yahoo Yahoo”. I chair the Senate Committee on ICT and Cuber Security. I am sometimes depressed that there have been schools established for cybercrimes in poosh area,” the senator said.
He, however, called on Nigerians not to leave the task of nation building for politicians alone, saying that, “all of us have sphere of influence and we must not forget to do what we can do in our own sphere of influence.”
Meanwhile, the author of the book, Dr Imran said it was purposely written in order to address the issue of scanty materials on pension administration and management in Nigeria.
According to him, it was also written to ensure that active employees, retirees and other work force across various sectors of the Nigerian economy are exposed to basic knowledge and skills on Defined Benefit and Contributory Pension Schemes in the country and several other jurisdictions in the world.
“The book will undoubtedly serve as a solid foundation for both students and non-pension professionals who would want to deepen their knowledge, skills and competence in pension administration and management,” Dr Imran said.
