Abstract
This study examines the nature of Nigeria's contributory retirement pension system. It shows that the government took monthly payroll deductions from the incomes of retirees and deposited in said retirement funds. Prior to retirement, retirees would receive a severance package of a lump-sum payment of a few months to a few years' earnings. They were assured that their regularly scheduled monthly disbursement would be remitted to their designated bank accounts. But due to the cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, many pension claimants were unsuccessful in receiving their benefits before death. The study reveals that the nation's pension administration system is characterized by massive fraud, corruption and misappropriation of funds earmarked for elderly disbursement. The study also shows that pension managers and ruling elites set up thousands of ghost pensioners to defraud the system. Pension officials used the alleged retired workers that never existed to draw other retirees' disbursements or gratuity for their personal gain. The study concludes that abject poverty of elderly retirees in Nigeria is partly due to the non-payment of their earned entitlements.
Recommended Citation
Furro, Tonyesima
(2017)
"Nigeria's Retirement Pension System and Elderly Poverty,"
Journal of African Policy Studies: Vol. 23:
No.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/joaps/vol23/iss1/4