The Federal Government on Thursday denied an allegation that it intended to borrow the N20tn pension fund for infrastructure development.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, in a statement in Abuja, said the government would comply with the established rules and regulations governing the pension fund.

The minister was reported to have told journalists, after a two-day Federal Executive Council meeting at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, that the government would unveil a plan to harness local funds, including the fund, to finance infrastructure development.

However, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, Edun noted that the pension industry, similar to other sectors in the financial industry, is strictly regulated by specific legal frameworks.


He said the Federal Government did not plan to exceed these legal boundaries, emphasising that the government was committed to protecting workers’ pensions.

“It has come to my notice that stories are making the round that the Federal Government plans to illegally access the hard-earned savings and pension contributions of workers. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Highly regulated

“The pension industry, like most the financial industries, is highly regulated. There are rules. There are limitations about what pension money can be invested in and what it cannot be invested in.

“The Federal Government has no intention whatsoever to go beyond those limitations and go outside those bounds which are there to safeguard the pensions of workers.

“What was announced to the Federal Executive Council was that there was an ongoing initiative drawing in all the major stakeholders in the long-term saving industry, those that handle funds that are available over a long period to see how, within the regulations and the laws; these funds could be used maximally to drive investment in key growth areas,” Edun clarified.

Furthermore, Edun clarified that the government had no intention of increasing the risk associated with the pension funds or allowing their investments to become less secure.

Earlier on Thursday, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria asked the Federal Government to refrain from tampering with the pension fund.

The NLC President, Joe Ajaero and the TUC Deputy President, Tommy Okon, in a joint statement on Thursday, advised the government not to risk the future of workers by borrowing the money to fund infrastructure development.

They stated, “Nigerian workers have entrusted their hard-earned savings for retirement security, not as a means for government projects. It is imperative to halt any further plans to tap into these funds, especially given the lack of transparency and accountability in past government borrowing practices.’’


The unions demanded assurances from the government that workers retirement funds [b]“would not fall victim to further Federal Government borrowing, especially when the PENCOM Board has not been constituted as envisaged by the statutes,’’ [/b]arguing further that any plan to borrow the funds is not backed by the Pension Act.

Labour expressed regrets that despite the government’s assurances of widespread consultation with major stakeholders in the pension industry, the NLC and TUC, representing the owners of the entire pension fund contributions, had neither been consulted nor informed about the government’s intentions.

According to the unions, the lack of transparency undermined the sanctity of pension funds, which it said should always be treated with the utmost reverence and protection.

Similarly, the Head of Information, Nigerian Union of Pensioners, Bunmi Ogunkolade, urged the government to find an alternative source to fund its infrastructure development plan, noting that the pension fund did not belong to pensioners but to workers.

He said, “Simply put, we are not in support. We have told the government to go and look for where to get their money. We have appealed to them that they should please look for where to get money to fund infrastructure or whatever.

On its part, the Nigeria Union of Pension in Kaduna State also advised the Federal Government against using the money for infrastructure development.

The state Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Mallam Alhassan Balarabe Musa, who stated this in an interview with The PUNCH, said, “The Federal Government under former President Muhammadu Buhari attempted a similar thing but failed.’’

“For us we are not happy about that. As of now, our national headquarters are trying everything to ensure that the fund is not going to be accessible.

“Now, we have so many retirees under contributory pension who are unable to get their gratuities. So, why will the Federal Government take that kind of amount? I think it’s going to be unfortunate and unacceptable.”

The NUP Pensioners, Ogun State Council, gave a similar warning.

The Secretary of the union, Dr Bola Lawal, said “I am sure if you have the opportunity to ask every pensioner none will accept this move of the government. Where is the assurance that this money will be paid back on time?

Osun pensioners

When contacted, the Coordinator, Osun State Contributory Pensioners, Mr Toyin Ayinde, warned the government against tampering with the contributions of retirees.

He said, “The government must not touch our money. What exactly is the matter with them? We don’t want anyone to touch our money under any guise. We are not interested in any proposal from them.”

Curious345:
We don't care if it's safe on safe.
Nigerian politicians use big big English to corner resources.

Why can't the government be directly involved in agriculture on the massive scale.

Instead of divising ways to steal that money or try to use the money to settle political allies by giving them overbloated contracts for road construction,

The government can humble itself and cultivate thousands of hectares of land, arable land across Nigeria ;plant crops for local consumption and for massive agricultural export.

There are countries on Earth, that are richer than Nigeria, not because they export crude oil but because they export cash crops cultivated on their lands..

Like I always say, Nigeria is a hopeless case

BigBlackPreek:
Ebimpawa oooo

helinues:


Go and eat now, no die of hunger oo

BigBlackPreek:
Food no dey o😭

helinues:


Then go and hustle, NL no dey put food on the members table

Ofunaofu:
Let it remain safe.

If Tinubu is looking for money to finance his coastal highway of fraud linking Bourdillon with Lebanon, he should take money from these bullion vans and execute the project.

Racoon:
Festus Keyamo Defends Tinubu From Drug Trafficking, Says Tinubu Mistakenly Shared Flats With Drug Lords

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, has distanced the All Progressive Congress presidential candidata, Bola Tinubu, from being a drug baron who was involved in the traffic of narcotics in the United States.

Keyamo, who also doubles as APC Presidential Campaign spokesperson, noted that the former governor of Lagos State only shared a block of flat with drug barons about 30 years ago in the US.

His reaction is coming following documents of a Chicago District Court indicting and convicting Tinubu of drug dealings and money laundering in 1993.

The document which emerged online two days ago, described APC standard-bearer as a drug baron, adding that Tinubu entered a plea bargain, leading to the forfeiture of his assets to US authorities in 1993

It was also pointed out that Tinubu forfeited the sum of $460, 000 dollars in his bank account at First Heritage Bank to the US government.

Speaking on Wednesday on Channels TV, Mr Keyamo dismissed such claims, insisting that Tinubu was linked to drug peddlers who were his neighbours.

He said: “What happened was that Tinubu went to open an account. The address which he used in opening the account was the address used by these people. I think some blocks of flats. Maybe, he was happy to be in that block of flats too.

“So, they now link it that the other people they were investigating for narcotics are in the same address used by Asiwaju to open that account.’’


https://www.thenigerianvoice.com/?.
 
U.S. court judgement indicts Tinubu for drug trafficking

https://www.google.com/amp/s/businessday.ng/amp/news/article/u-s-court-judgement-indicts-tinubu-for-drug-trafficking/

US Court Releases Documents Linking Tinubu to Largescale Drug Peddling


https://fij.ng/article/us-court-releases-documents-linking-tinubu-to-largescale-drug-peddling/

Tokskob2008:
I have always pondered on this too. Why can't FG make use of the available lands all around the country for massive agriculture, it's not like they don't have the funds to buy the equipments or whatever and doing this will create more jobs and also make food cheaper for the citizens, so what is really the problem with this our leaders