National Assembly Pensioners: A Saga of Delay and Deprivation

Strategic Insights -

The National Assembly Pensioners are facing a crisis due to the delayed implementation of the National Assembly Pensions Act 2023. Despite budgetary provisions for the Pensions Board in 2024 and 2025, the board has yet to be inaugurated, leaving retirees in a precarious situation. In a letter dated May 17, 2025, the Council of Retired Clerks and Secretaries of the National Assembly, led by Dr. Adamu Mohammed Fika and Prince Oluyemi Ogunyomi, alerted the nation to the planned amendment of the Act, which they deemed unwarranted and unnecessary.

Key Takeaways:

  • 20 retirees have died awaiting their entitlements, and 12 others are on hospital beds.
  • The National Pensions Commission withdrew the names of NASS retirees from its list and handed their data to the management of the National Assembly, pending the inauguration of the NASS Pensions Board.
  • The Council of Retired Clerks and Secretaries of the National Assembly submitted that the implementation of the law is yet to commence and that the amendments being proposed to the law cannot be reasonably justified.
  • The two signatories to the letter, Dr. Adamu Mohammed Fika and Prince Oluyemi Ogunyomi, are veteran legislative bureaucrats with extensive experience in lawmaking and the affairs of the National Assembly.
  • The incumbent Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) should realize the fragility of time and advise the political leadership of the Assembly appropriately.
  • The pensioners are facing a crisis due to the delayed implementation of the National Assembly Pensions Act 2023, despite budgetary provisions for the Pensions Board in 2024 and 2025.

Statistics:

  • 20 retirees have died awaiting their entitlements.
  • 12 retirees are on hospital beds awaiting their entitlements.
  • 82 economic years is the age of Dr. Adamu Fika.
  • £4,500,000 (Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand) was provided as take-off grant in 2024 Appropriation Act.
  • £1,500,000 (One Million, Five Hundred Thousand) is the recurrent budgetary provision for year 2025.

Sources:

  • A letter dated May 17, 2025, addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Tajudeen Abbas.
  • The National Assembly Pensions Act 2023.
  • A news article titled "NASS Pensioners: How Akpabio, Abbas should not treat the elderly".