Abuja, The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (NUP) on Thursday rejected plans by the Federal Government to invest pension fund in building infrastructure in the country.
The union made its position known in a statement signed by the NUP National President, Dr Abel Afolayan, in Abuja.
A copy of the statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said: ``Why will government decide to use people's hard earned money, contributed for a specific purpose, for another purpose that has no backing of the law?
``The Nigerian workers, alongside other contributors, are saving their money for the rainy day in order to make life better for themselves after retirement.
``For government to think of diverting the money to infrastructural development, without proper safeguards, is unthinkable.
``What will be the fate of these people when they finally retire only to find that the money they wanted to fall back on is nowhere to be found?''.
However, the statement said that NUP was not totally against investing the fund, but declared that the fear was based on the high rate of impunity recorded in the old pension system.
It said the corrupt tendencies of some government officials, who see pension money as a gold mine and their penchant for reckless infringement on pension funds, had become a thing of concern to the union.
The pensioners therefore advised government to put in place safety mechanism like financial tracking system for control and accountability before investing the fund into infrastructure.
Besides, they urged government to ensure the implementation of the draft regulation on investment of pension fund assets issued by PENCOM to safeguard the pension funds. (NAN)
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