PENSION RECORD IN NIGERIA PAST, PRESENT AND THE FUTURE

Background of the study: The purpose of occupational pension scheme is to provide employees regular and stable income after their retirement from service. It is an arrangement an employer or a group of employers use(s) to provide pension (and sometimes other) benefits for their employees when they leave or retire. They also provide benefits to the employee’s dependant if the employee dies. This scheme is usually funded by contributions from just the employer, or from both the employer and the employee. A good pension scheme does not only serve as an incentive to employees but helps to attract and retain experienced staff. The first pension legislation in Nigeria was enacted in 1951 by the British colonial administration, referred to as the Pension Ordinance, with retrospective effect from 1st January, 1946. The pension which was initially designed for colonial officers who were moved from post to post in the vast British Empire was to ensure their continuity of service wherever and whenever they were deployed to serve the colonial administration. When the law eventually became applicable to Nigerians, the application was at the discretion of the Governor – General. Pension was therefore not a right for Nigerians under the Ordinance. To redress this, a new Pensions Act was enacted in 1979 referred to as the Pensions Act No. 102 of 1979; retroactively effective from 1st April, 1974. The Act consolidated all enactments on pensions and incorporated pensions and gratuity scales designed for public officers by the Udoji Public Service Review Commission in 1974.