The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to cease making excuses and urgently inaugurate the board of the National Pension Commission (PenCom). The demand was made in a statement issued by NLC President Joe Ajaero on Wednesday, amid reports that the Tinubu administration has yet to constitute the PenCom governing board.
Ajaero criticized the federal government’s failure to establish the board for over five years, describing it as a sign of a “lack of transparency” in managing workers’ pension funds. “This aloofness goes to the heart of the lack of transparency in the management of pension funds,” he said, pointing to a “dysfunctional governance architecture” as the root cause of the crisis.
The NLC president emphasized the union’s pivotal role in shaping Nigeria’s contributory pension system and vowed to protect workers’ interests. “We do not need a tutorial on this. All we need is a commitment from the Federal Government that the labours of Nigerian workers are not derailed by the demons of poor accountability and oversight that destroyed the old defined benefit scheme,” Ajaero stated.
He urged PenCom’s management to focus on persuading the government to constitute the board without further delay, rather than offering excuses. “What is so difficult in constituting the board of PenCom?” he questioned.
The NLC’s statement comes amid unconfirmed reports that President Tinubu has appointed Opeyemi Agbaje as the new Chairman of PenCom. The union has previously threatened strike action over the non-constitution of the PenCom board and alleged diversions of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF).
The NLC reiterated its commitment to holding the government accountable, warning that silence on the issue would be “too dangerous and gravely costly.” Quoting the adage, “A stitch in time saves nine,” the union stressed the urgency of addressing the governance gap in the pension sector to ensure proper oversight and accountability.
