Reps Probe FCT Area Councils’ Failure To Remit Contributory Pension

The House of Representatives Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Councils and Ancillary Matters has resolved to investigate the failure of the six area councils to remit their pension contribution to the Area Council Staff Pension Board.

This was a sequel to the motion adoption when the Board Director, Suleman Abdulrahman, appeared before the Committee on Wednesday.

The motion was raised during a meeting between the committee and agencies to defend their 2024 budget performance ahead of their 2025 estimates.

Abdulrahman had told the Committee the remittances were not frequent.

“By law and according to the pension reform act, each deduction from salaries in respect to pension is supposed to be remitted seven days after payment of wages, but unfortunately, at the area councils, that‘s not what is happening. Sometimes, they owe two to three months before remittance.

“The staff pay their employee contribution, which is 8 per cent and 10 per cent for the employer. It is remitted to their PFA accordingly from the area councils,” he said.

The committee, chaired by Hon. Fred Agbedi (PDP, Bayelsa), demanded that the agency furnish records about the matter.

Agbedi also said the committee would embark on budget oversight of all the agencies.
“Furnish us the details to know why the area councils default on their remittance.

“Let someone move a motion for us to investigate the discrepancies and delay in area councils remitting because salaries are paid monthly.

“The Committee should investigate the failure of the remittance from the area councils to the pension account,” Agbedi said.

He directed the Clerk to write to all the area councils to furnish the committee with up-to-date pension contribution remittances on behalf of their employees.

Abdulrahman was queried on why the Board received more than it was appropriated for in 2024.

According to the documents submitted by the Board, pensioner cost total appropriation showed N131, 148, 262 but received 151, 137, 417.

He explained that this was due to variations in salaries due to the change in minimum wage.

“The personnel cost of all FCT staff is centralised with the treasury department, and you are aware of the recent salary adjustments due to minimum wage, which increased the total receipt. We are contacting the treasury department for supplementary approval to update our records.

“Principally, what we do is superintend pension matters in all the six area councils and LEA, which is the payment of monthly pensions and other benefits that accrue to our prospective retirees.

“Our summary of the budget performance for 2024 showed that we had a total of N1.1 billion, which was the ceiling, which consists of the recurrent, personnel, and overhead.

“Regarding personnel costs, we have 115 per cent budget performance. Regarding the overhead, we have 40 per cent performance and don‘t have capital projects. It‘s just a service organisation on change of monthly pensions,” he said.