by Kunle Wizeman Ajayi
Pensioners are in serious pains. They do not however sit and lament, but are fighting back in a series of protest actions across many states of the country. In capturing their pains, the president of the National Union of Pensioners (NUP) at the last NLC Rally For Decent work noted that:
“Today you are a faithful worker, tomorrow you retire. A lot of pensioners are dying without entitlements. The Government has no regard for their senior citizens.”
It is an open secret that workers are doubly torture while active and retired. The capitalist system aims at exploring every means to cheat and exploit the worker who creates the wealth they loot.
It is also widely known that the banks are more interested in their profits while duping the pensioners, rather than considering their welfare.
No wonder, Rasheedat Okoduwa, the spokesperson of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) disclosed to the public at a function recently that “ICPC discovered that the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) was not remitting deductions from employees’ salaries to their respective Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).”
The fraud at PENCOM and other pension outfits shows the fraud inherent in capitalism. The resistance by pensioners is commendable. Socialists believe that such resistance is part of the general struggle to reject the excessive exploitation of the workers, even when non-active. In turn, this is part of the general struggle to liberate the whole oppressed classes from the shackles of a prevailing barbaric system of “greed and power.”
The government should guarantee a basic income for all pensioners. Pension funds invested in banks and other business have been shown to be to be at risk from fraud and investment failure. The various pension schemes have not been able to guarantee regular payments to all pensioners. Many older workers die before receiving the payments they are due.
