Civil and public servants in Ogun State have demanded the suspension of the State Pension Reform Law, issuing a 72-hour ultimatum for dialogue with the state government.
The workers, under the auspices of organised labour, stated that the law has failed in its objectives, and successive governments over the past 17 years have failed to remit contributory pension funds.
The State Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Hamed Benco, disclosed this at a press conference held at the NLC Secretariat in Abeokuta on Wednesday, revealing that the government owes an accumulated contributory pension sum of N82 billion.
According to Benco, the state government has remained silent on the issue and appears unprepared to meet the expectations of the contributory pension scheme, CPS.
He said, “Arising from meetings held with all affiliates and organs of the organised labour on the Contributory Pension Scheme vis-à-vis its full implementation in the state commencing on the July 1, 2025, we consider it necessary to inform the public of our rejection of the full implementation and postponement to a later date when all administrative and financial necessities are in place.
“By all means and purposes, it is very clear to us that the Ogun State government is not prepared to deliver on the expectations of the contributory pension scheme.
“As stated in all our correspondence on the issue to the state government, the inconsistencies in the implementation of the State Pension Reform Law 2008, as amended 2013, including non-existent State Bureau of Contributory Pension, non-existent mandatory Contributory Pension Board, non-existent comprehensive register or database on contributory pension, non-existent actuarial valuation of past services of all public servants, non-existent mandatory life insurance policy for workers supposedly on CPS, non-remittance of over N82 billion deducted from workers in the last 17 years to Pension Funds Administrators; and non-remittance of similar figures of the above in the last seventeen years as the state government counterpart funds to PFAs.
“Workers of Ogun State, therefore, demand for the suspension of the Ogun State Pension Reform Law and call for dialogue with the state government within the next 72 hours.”
Also speaking, the chairman of the Trade Union Congress, Akeem Lasisi, insisted that workers continue to endure needless hardship in spite of their significant contributions to the state economy.
Lasisi cautioned that the workers would have no option but to escalate the matter to the national level if their demands are not met.
