The House of Representatives said on Tuesday that many employers were flouting the Pension Reform Act, 2004, by failing to remit monthly deductions of their workers’ salaries into the Retirement Saving Accounts kept with the Pension Fund Administrators.
In a resolution passed by in Abuja, the House observed that the breach cut across both the public and private sectors.
In a majority voice vote, members asked the House Committee on Pensions to investigate the matter and produce a report.
The report is expected to identify defaulters and their collaborators.
The Speaker of the House, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, presided over the session.
The resolution was passed after a Peoples Democratic Party lawmaker from Edo State, Mr. Joseph Edionywele, drew the attention of his colleagues to complaints by many employees that their RSAs were not being credited.
Edionywele expressed surprise that 11 years after the law took effect, some employers were still treating the serious issue of pension remittances with levity.
He said, “Non-remittance by organisations will not only jeopardise the smooth and successful operation of the scheme, but also lead to the suffering of pensioners.
“We should investigate and list the defaulters and sanction them, even in the private sector.”
An All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Edo State and House Deputy Whip, Mr. Pally Iriase, urged the lower chamber to pursue the matter to a logical conclusion.
Iriase noted that every worker would become a pensioner one way, adding that the action of the employers meant that senior citizens would suffer after leaving office.