Fashola and Buhari set eyes on POACHING Pension Fund. Civil servants contributions at risk of being squandered

Fashola and Buhari set eyes on POACHING Pension Fund. Civil servants contributions at risk of being squandered

Being one of the Nigerian governors who squandered the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) meant to cushion of the effects of low crude oil price, Babatunde Fashola, the erstwhile governor of Lagos State and Muhammadu Buhari's Minister of Power, Works and Housing, has suggested the poaching of pension contributions made by Nigerian civil servants for their upkeep at retirement.

Fashola recently advocated what he termed "the unlocking" of Nigeria’s three billion Naira pensions fund to cushion the deficit in the nation’s infrastructural sector.

Mr Fashola, who spoke at a meeting organised by the National Pension Commission in Abuja, said that contributors of the pensions scheme who constitute the nation’s low income earners, deserve a better infrastructure to go about their daily lives.

The Minister said that the nation’s pensions fund must be channeled into ventures that will turn around the nation’s economy.

However, the Director-General of the National Pension Commission, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, rebuffed Fashola for the unholy idea. Stressing that the commission remains committed to protecting the interest of pensioners.

Pension contributions are not meant for infrastructural development as Fashola is criminally suggesting. They are meant to be invested such that returns will be used to cater for the contributors during retirement. No doubt that allowing hawks like Fashola access to the pension pot will spell doom for workers who made tghe contributions.