Workers in Rivers State have appealed to the state government to address what it described as the fraud going on in the management of workers’ pensions by pension administrators.
The chairman of the Rivers State council of the Nigeria Labour Congress made the call while addressing workers at the 2022 May Day celebration in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Itubo claimed that deductions made from workers salaries as part of their contribution to the pension scheme is now being ascribed to as Government contribution for the scheme.
The Labour leader noted that since the scheme was established, the government was yet to make any contribution to the scheme.
“It is public knowledge that right from the commencement of the contributory pension scheme in this state government has not contributed a dime to the fund. All deductions have been made solely from the employees salaries.
“To our chagrin, print out of the contributions made to the fund are now beginning to have some months in the employees name while some are in the employer’s name.
“When did the government of Rivers state contribute this quota that has been recorded in its name?
“How do pension administrators come about the employer’s contribution which is now deducted from the total sum? This is a systematic fraud.
“Let the government of Rivers State come forward to exonerate itself from this organized crime by ordering the pension board to return all money deducted in the name of employers contribution because the government has never contributed a kobo to the fund. If the government fails to do this, we will meet them in court.”
The Labour leader also called on the state government to implement the report of the tripartite committee on the minimum wage or face an industrial action from the workers.
