Osun lecturers ask Aregbesola to suspend pension scheme

Lecturers in Osun State owned polytechnics and colleges of education have asked Governor Rauf Aregbesola to suspend the contributory pension scheme and revert to the old pension scheme for them.

The lecturers under the Council of Academic Staff Unions of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions said this in a letter written to the governor and a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Thursday.

The letter dated October 7th was  jointly signed   by the CASUOSTI Chairman, Lasisi Jimoh; secretary, Olusegun Lana; Chairman Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, Iree, Dotun Omisore; ASUP chairman, Esa Oke, Adesola Akande;  COEASU Ila-Orangun Chairman, Segun Onifade and COEASU Ilesa Chairman, Oladele Ojo.

The lecturers stated that it would be unwise to continue with the CPS because government had been making pension deductions from their salaries and had refused to remit same to their individual pension fund administrators.

They said the gain intended with the introduction of the CPS had been defeated because of non-remittance of pension deductions and refusal of the state government to pay its own part which is seven and a half percent of individual monthly salaries.

The lecturers said they were not asking for something strange because the  Federal Government which introduced the scheme at a point exempted some categories of workers who were initially captured in the scheme.

The letter read, ” That in the interest of all  concerned, Mr. Governor should direct immediate suspension of the CPS and deactivation of the old defined scheme, at least for workers of the state owned tertiary institutions.

” It is note worthy that members of the Ladoke Akintola University Teaching Hospital are not under the scheme. It is also remarkable that even the Federal Government at a point excluded some agencies initially captured under the CSP from the scheme ( e.g. Nigerian Army, judges, Directorate of State Security).”

The lecturers also asked the governor to release all deductions made from salaries saying repayment of bank loans taken by individuals were deducted without remitting the fund to the banks