PENGASSAN Raises Alarm Over Neglect Of Oil, Gas Pensioners

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has expressed concern over what it described as growing neglect and inequality in the management of Closed Pension Fund Administrations (CPFAs) within the oil and gas industry.

President of PENGASSAN, Comrade Festus Osifo, speaking at a one-day summit on “The Future of Pensions in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry” on Thursday in Abuja, lamented that many retirees under the defined benefit system were living in hardship as their pensions have remained static for years despite rising inflation and naira devaluation.

Osifo explained that although the 2004 Pension Reform Act introduced the contributory pension scheme, several oil and gas companies, including Chevron, NNPC, TotalEnergies, and DPR were allowed to retain closed pension schemes for workers employed before 2014, when new enrolments were halted.

“We have realised there is some level of lacuna within the system. People who retired as far back as 1990 or 2010 still earn the same pension. In most organisations, their benefits don’t grow; they remain at management discretion,” he said.

He added that in about 90 percent of companies operating closed pension schemes, retirees’ benefits had not been reviewed, leaving them vulnerable to economic realities.

The PENGASSAN president urged the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to intensify oversight on actuarial assumptions such as life expectancy and funding adequacy to ensure sustainability of pension funds.

“PENCOM should ensure that those gaps are closed and that the funds are truly sufficient to take care of pensioners and those that will join them in the future,” he said.

Osifo reaffirmed PENGASSAN’s commitment to advocate for the rights of retirees who “laboured for decades to build the industry,” and commended PENCOM for its professionalism and integrity, urging the commission to maintain its standards.

“It is our responsibility to take care of today’s pensioners because tomorrow, we will also cross over and become pensioners as well. That is why when we say injury to one, it is surely injury to all,” Osifo stated.