One important issue concerning pension in Nigeria is, who is most qualified to get this benefit? Normally the way it should have been done like we have seen in other advance countries of the world is that a particular number of years may have been put in service before anyone is qualified to enjoy this benefit taking into consideration the age of an individual at that point in time. This aspect would have to be examined very carefully by the Nigerian lawmakers to suit the economic condition of the country (Nigeria). We believe that any National assembly officer who has served for a period of time and retires for whatever reason should be entitled to this benefit (pension), again age has to play a role here because pension is only paid to those who have reached the retirement age.
On the other hand, if someone is ill and is unable to continue his or her duty, he or she should be entitled to a financial support and not pension until that individual gets to that pension age. However the decision on this like we mentioned earlier should be the responsibility of the lawmakers but as it is in some other countries of the world, even if you have served in any arm of government and your age is below the pension age as specified by law of the country in question, you have to go and look for job except if illness does not permit an individual from working, then at that point he or she would be given monthly financial support like we said above. This is not regarded as pension, no because the support you are getting is not paid in full as it would have been when you retire as a pensioner because you are incapacitated that is why such financial support is being given to an individual but when you get to that pension age as specified by law then your full monthly pension allowance will have to be paid. Again pension is paid to those who have successfully worked for a specified number of years as required by the law of any given country, you do not get pension when you have not served for the required number of years in any establishment as specified by law instead what you get is financial support.
We (Viewers Corner News) advise the lawmakers in Nigeria to please do their homework properly before taking any decision on this because hundreds of thousands of money may be required here that is if lots of people who are below the pension age in the country (Nigeria) are put on pension when they are still very healthy to work. Again without adequate plan on how to finance the pension fund may drain the government’s treasury in a severe manner therefore this aspect should be handled very carefully. It looks so simple but very complicating and needs proper planning to achieve good result.
Source: Viewers Corner News.