The organised labour unions in Ogun State on Tuesday threatened industrial action over pension allocation.
The strike is as a result of the failure of the government to remit over ₦40billion contributory pensions deducted from the workers’ salaries in the last 15 years.
The unions which include the Trade Union Congress, Nigeria Labour Congress and Joint Negotiation Council disclosed this in a letter written to Governor Dapo Abiodun.
The letter, a copy of which was sent to our correspondent, was signed by the Chairman TUC, Comrade Akeem Lasisi, his NLC counterpart, Hammed Benco-Ademola and JNC Chairman, Isa Olude.
Ogun workers on pension
The labour unions said that despite setting up a committee on this contentious issue in October 2022, the state government has refused to make the report of this committee public.
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They claimed that they were forced to write the letter to the governor because less than a year to July 1, 2025, which is the effective date for the Contributory Pension Scheme according to the 2013 State Pension Reform Law amended in 2008, there was nothing on ground to justify the sincerity of the government towards implementation of this pension scheme.
The labour unions said: “We are talking of over ₦40 billion unremitted deductions. The government altogether owed over 160 months.
“Former Governor Gbenga Daniel owed 25 months before he left office. Ex-Gov Amosun paid just only 9 months out of his eight-year tenure while Governor biodun has not paid a dime since he came to office in 2019”.
Gov Refusal To Remit Fund
The unions said the government had refused to remit to Pension Fund Administrators the sum of 7.5% contributory pensions deducted monthly from the salary of each worker for over 15 years.
They added that the government had equally failed to pay its counterpart contribution of 7.5% of each worker’s salary making a total of 15% to the PFA.
The workers said that they could not pretend that all was well when their fate is hanging in the balance.
According to them, there is no hope of having their welfare taken care of in retirement with the way the government has handled their pension fund over the years.
