Ekiti commences contributory pension scheme with 6,700 workers

THE Ekiti State government has formally commenced a contributory pension scheme for its workers, following the distribution of appointment letters for the commencement of the scheme to thirteen selected pension fund administrators.

The letters were distributed to the pension fund administrators (PFAs), at a ceremony, at the governor’s office and the scheme will involve 6,700 of the workers in the state’s civil service that joined the workforce from January 2010 till date.

The state’s Head of Service, Dr. Olugbenga Faseluka, said at the ceremony that the PFAs  were the same that as those that had been appointed by the previous administration in the state, saying “in the spirit of fairness, just and equity, the present administration deemed it fit to retain the thirteen PFAs which had earlier been appointed by the immediate past administration by revalidating their appointments.”

Faseluka charged the PFAs to support the state in ensuring a smooth running of the scheme, noting that “as stakeholders, your modest contributions in the area of Information and Communication Technology, training and sensitisation programmes, operational vehicles, computers, office furniture and equipment will be highly appreciated.”

The Executive Secretary of the Ekiti State Pension Commission, Mr. James Idowu Akinola, said before the take-off, the state had understudied other states to be able to know what problems there are and the successes in the scheme to set a benchmark.

Akinola noted that the contributory pension scheme was just taking off in the state because the labour unions had earlier kicked against it, following an experience of a failed pension scheme in the days of old Ondo State.

According to him, 89 per cent of the about 6,700 workers was shared equally among 13 PFAs while the lead PFA would have additional five per cent of the 89 per cent.

On why the state government had to choose PFAs, Akinola said “we chose PFAs for our workers because some PFAs play pranks and registered more than one workers. But from the experience of Lagos State, which is one of the states we understudied to know their problems and successes, we found that problems broke out when the workers began to retire.

“However, in our law, workers are free to chose their PFAs but when the transfer window is open, workers can move from one PFAs to another