From James Ogunnaike, Abeokuta
Following the recent passage and subsequent signing into law the “Pension Reform amendment law by the Ogun State government all deductions for the contributory pension scheme accrued the affected civil servant in the state would have such refund after their retirement.
The Ogun State Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle who dropped this hint in Abeokuta said the amendment was made to accommodate some observed lapses perceived in the formal law.
According to her, the amendment created creation of transitional pension scheme for those who had retired since 2010 and those that will retire from service between now and 30th June, 2025, adding that refund of both employees and employers’ contributions to the categories of officers under the “transitional pension scheme” and government.
Adekunle accused some civil servants in the state of turning their quarters to guest houses and provision stores while many of the quarters were being occupied illegally.
According her, the revelation was made known through the recent verification exercise of Government Quarters in the State, pointing out that some workers were found of rent the quarters out to outsiders.
The HoS also explained that many of the occupants of the quarters have also unilaterally stopped the deduction of rent from their salaries. She however warned against the ‘such misdemeanor as the verification exercise is still on-going saying that any culprit will not be pardoned.’
“There was one that even collected rent, the agency responsible set up a committee, they collected 100,000 Naira from somebody, even we have seen the letter that was written to the person that it was allocated to. We feel it is a matter that he needs to be disciplined for. He has paid back the amount he collected and the punishment recommended for him.
“The other problem that we have at hand is that most of those that have turned the quarters to super market and whatever, we allocated to people who have retired long time ago, but because nobody supervised or asked who was there, they turned it into what they turned it into and these are people who are not civil servants, they are just outsiders, so there is nobody to actually hold responsible but in a few cases where we have hold people responsible, even if you have retired, we deduct from your pension.
