Nasarawa State Governor, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has called for the overhauling of the constitutional provisions establishing the pension scheme in Nigeria, saying it had usurped the funds meant for job creation.
Speaking with journalists during the weekend, the governor said his administration might resort to the retrenchment of 30 per cent of its work force by January if the difficulties faced by government in the payment of civil servants’ salaries and pensioners’ allowances persisted.
Noting that some people were of the view that his administration should seek bond from the capital market, the governor declared that, “I have never borrowed money since I came to government and I will not borrow money until I complete my administration.” He further said efforts had reached an advanced stage to fish out ghost workers, particularly within the Teaching Service Commission.
The governor lamented that thousands of students graduate every year without the hope of security jobs because civil servants, who retired many years ago, were still on governments’ payrolls. He observed that any government policy directed at providing youths with paid employment was an effort in futility, unless the issue of pension was subjected to review, adding that “without this, the issue of unemployment will be with us for a very long time and the future is really very bleak.”
