PENSION: WHEN OLD AGE IS A CRIME

Dan UGWU

In sane societies where old age is conceived as a rare gift, there is always the desire to get old quick so as to enjoy the benefits that accrue to the aged. In Europe and America where old people are regarded as senior citizens, the care given to the elderly is most unprecedented. Befitting homes and appropriate medical assist\nance are accorded to the old people as properly organized by their governments. This could account for the mad rush by Africans or rather Nigerians to these climes in search of the lucrative business of caring for the senior citizens.
Ironically, the desire for such jobs are not necessitated by their love for aged people but for the high premium placed on such jobs, otherwise, Nigeria would have been the better place to seek for the jobs as economic hardship and penury force so many into unmerited ‘old ages’.
Unfortunately, such care placed on old people in saner societies is not to be found in our own Nigerian society as there seem to be no end in sight to travails of the nation’s aged retirees. Often the media is replete with gory reports of the nation’s aged retirees waiting in vain after many years of retirement to be paid their retirement benefits and pension and dying in suffering and sorrow without accessing them. Nigerian media have been awash with news of many of pensioners collapsing in various parts of the country, some dying while standing in queue to collect their meager stipends. The story has been the same from the military to the police to the civil servants. Those who survive, frail and ailing old men and women, are frequently compelled to undertake odysseys from their villages to distant federal, state or local government headquarters for a tedious identification parade. This ritual is just to show themselves to the uncaring and arrogant pension officials to prove that they are still alive and deserving of the paltry stipend that cannot pay for their fares, food, medicare or shelter. This writer at least has aging parents who suffer such fate; hence this uncaring attitude of the government is recounted as seen and experienced and not as told.

Most painful is the fact that officials entrusted with management of pension funds unconscionably embezzle the funds meant to provide succor to the aged pensioners after retirement. The unending nightmare of fraud perpetuated on pension accounts is inflicting untold hardship and pains to retirees. They read on daily newspapers how their entitlements are embezzled by government officials who are suppose to manage their pension. One would think that after years of service to the government, retirees should have some pension to live on. It is probably too much to ask various government agencies to pay retirees a living wage considering the low level of economic activity in Nigeria but some level of pension to retirees should be a right after they put in required number of years of service. The monthly ritual of frail individuals who could barely work straight without the aid of a stick, some so old they shake while in a queue for several hours or days waiting to collect their check is a sickening sight for any sane person. Some of these pensioners have endured abuses and unconducive work environments while in service and now have to put up with months of waiting for their paltry gratuity. The worst part is that the pension backlog runs into months and years without any sense of urgency by the government officials who are suppose to better their lot.
This writer’s experience of two old pensioners who felt dejected at the Eke Ahiara UBA branch when after a long journey from their homes to the busy area, found out that their pension lifeblood have not been remitted yet. The old men nearly jumped out of their skin in frustration only to be aided by a sympathizer who underwrote their transport bills back home. Their repeated chants of “what have we done wrong to the government” as they clutched their hands beside their old cheeks was enough reason to place a course on the government. Such scenario is simply bad news for civil servants on their way to retirement and old age.

This unconscious aversion and neglect for the elderly is not limited to government quarters. The group worst hit by this anomaly are religious men and women who devoted their whole lives to the service of the Church. Often time, there are no laid down policies designed to accommodate them. The situation appears as if old age is unrewarding despite the energy put in while vibrant. This could account for the reason why so many of them crave wealth to serve their old age demands since they have voluntarily denied themselves spouses and belongings. It is height time programmes are designed in view of caring for the old. Old men and women should not be made to regret having lives full of ages. In better civil societies, people clock hundreds and above with healthy hearts and mind. This is unlike our clime where life is celebrated as a rare gift at seventy.

It is true that the Nigerian pension scheme is fraught with problems as most pension funds are underfunded or simply not funded at all. Most have unsustainable outstanding pension liabilities with weak and inefficient pension administration. Most workers in the private sectors are not even covered by any form of retirement benefits arrangements. As the Buhari administration has commenced its second phase, there is need for reform of the system and this should include curtailment or elimination of high level of corruption in pension administration and the insurance that every worker receives his retirement benefits as at when due. Pensioners should not have to wait for more than one month after retirement to receive their first pay check. There is also need to empower the workers to save in order to cater for their livelihood during old age. Corruption which has become cancerous to Nigeria must be brought under control for pension reform to yield meaningful results.

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* Dan UGWU writes from
Umunwoko Obokwu
Ozara Mbutu Mbaise Imo State.
danchidiu@yahoo.com