Politicians Should Also Be Included In Nigeria’s Pension System – Senator Etuk

The Chairman Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service, Senator Aloysious Etuk, on Tuesday commended the recommendations made at the World Pension Summit (Africa Special), noting that it was necessary to include other categories of workers, as well as politicians, in the pension system. 

He aired his views while speaking on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily. 
Speaking on the importance of the Summit, Mr Etuk noted that they have just realized that pension should

not only be for working population. He said, “After-all, when we are saying working population – we have those who work in formal sector, informal sector, organised sector, unorganized sector – and everybody should be mobilized to consciously save for the rainy day. ” Etuk further advocated that politicians should also be integrated into the pension system, disclosing that he had been forced to abandon his aides in Abuja, when former Head of State, Sanni Abacha, disbanded the House in 1993. 

He noted that such a move would ensure that public servants leave office with savings asides other allowances. “In 1993, when Abacha sacked us from the National Assembly, the money I had on me was not enough to pay my way and my aides back to Lagos.  So I had to abandon my aides there and find a way to transport myself to Lagos.” Speaking on the negative impressions concerning the pension system in Nigeria, the senator said things have changed positively since the advent of the Senate probe into the pension system, which in turn caused the executive to pay attention.