President of the Senate, Senator David Mark has condemned stashing of N2.9 trillion worth of pension funds in banks accounts while hapless pensioners roam the streets in want and abject poverty.
Mark who was commenting to a debate on Pension Reform Bill which scaled second reading described most managers of the pension funds as rookies who have no sound knowledge of financial management and requite experience which made them to indulge in gross mismanagement of the funds at the detriment of pensioners.
He also decried constant invitation of pensioners for verification, and queried: “how can pensioners be going for verification every year?” while canvassing for the introduction of properly managed pension fund regime by engaging “people who are very experienced in the management of pension,” to mitigate the situation.
His words: “I think the problem we’ve had is that, we have all sorts of rookies; people who have no idea about managing funds, not to talk of very huge pension fund go to manage our pension fund.
I think it’s a very specialised area where you cannot just wake up tomorrow morning and be appointed to manage the pension fund; you will mismanage it; that’s what I suspect has happened.
The national budget is N4.9 trillion and we have money in the pension fund up to N2.9 trillion. So, you can imagine the amount of money at the disposal of few individuals who are not properly supervised, who have no training in management, and who just dip their hands into the funds as and when they feel like.”
Referring the Bill to Sen. Aloysius Etok led Senate committee on establishment for further legislative action; the Senate president noted that “there are areas where the committee would have to work very hard” and warned: This is not one of those Bills that will come here with so many mistakes”.