One major aspect of the public service reforms under President Olusegun Obasanjo was the introduction of contributory Pension Scheme for staff of the Federal Civil Service in Nigeria. In the scheme, civil servants were to contribute about 7.5% of their salary every month deducted directly at source while another 7.5% is to be contributed by the Federal Government. Pension administrators were appointed to administer the funds and civil servants were at liberty to choose whichever pension administrator to register with. The same was replicated in the private sector under the supervision of the Pension Commission. The purpose of the scheme was to ensure that such contributions were managed as investments for the beneficiaries such that after retirement from public service, the fund would be readily available for them. This is to avoid situations where retirees spend months and years without collecting their retirement benefits and pensions. Many retirees have died in the process of processing their pensions or in the course of waiting in vain.
It is sad that over ten years that the scheme was introduced in the public service; many civil/public servants still retire and find it difficult to access their funds, sometime when they do, they receive the payments in installments. It is the same story with the issue of group insurance where public servants who are under group insurance in their offices will die in active service and years after their demise, their families will be unable to access their insurance claims even when such officers had paid their premium as designed in the scheme.
It is noteworthy, that the group insurance scheme is part of the security of those in the military and paramilitary offices where staff are daily exposed to danger by their call of duty. It is said to be managed and supervised by the office of the Head of Service of the Federation. The case in point here is that of the OFFICE OF THE NIGERIA SECURITY AND CIVIL DEFENSE CORPS (NSCDC). I was surprised recently when I visited the Headquarters of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps in Abuja, to enquire about the payment of death benefits of late MRS. JANET UHUO NWALI who died in active service in 2012. She was enlisted into the Nigeria Civil and Defense Corps in 2005 as Inspector of Corps with file Number NSCDC/NHQ/21777 and Service Number 6175 and rose to the position of Chief Corps Assistant in 2011. She left behind her husband and children. Since then, the family members have been coming to Abuja and have not been able to collect her entitlements/claims.
The question is why it should take years, in fact more than five years for example, to process insurance claims of a dead person who during his or her life time paid his or her premium/contributions which were deducted from their emoluments at source. Since 2012 till date, despite the fact that the family informed the Corps of her death and processed her death benefits accordingly, the payment is yet to be made. The office in charge of Insurance of staff of the Corps when contacted at the NSCDC Headquarters in Abuja on Friday 24th June, 2016 stated that all files of such cases which have been fully processed were at the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation and that they were not aware when the payment would be effected. When asked why the payment was delayed, they noted that the group insurance of the Corps members including those from sister organizations were being handled by the Office of the Head of Service and that it is the Head of Service Office that appointed the Insurance Company which they said was Industrial and General Insurance Plc (IGI) to handle all group Life insurance of staff of the Organization and that until IGI released the money, next of Kin of deceased staff would not able to access their death benefits of lost ones.
What is intriguing about this issue is not the fact that one Janet Uhuo Nwali has not been paid her death benefits almost five years after her demise. The real issue is why would insurance companies not be able to process benefits of their customers or clients in an environment where matters relating to insurance are seen by many as anathema? In developed societies, life insurance is virtually compulsory to citizens and Insurance Companies do everything possible to maintain the confidence of their clients by ensuring that insurance claims are treated and paid with dispatch. The way and manner Insurance Companies in Nigeria handle insurance claims is one of the reasons why many people are not attracted to anything insurance even for their properties. It is no wonder many take third party insurance of their vehicles only because it is compulsory for the car to be on the road.
It is worrisome that public servants in Nigeria who serve their nation would die either in the call of duty or naturally while still in active service and families of such people would not be able to access death benefits of such people. Not because this funds have not been provided for, but perhaps because certain officers of government who behave as if they will never die, would sit on such processes and allegedly keep such funds in fixed deposits to accrue interests for their own selfish benefits. Most times, when members of such families could not continue to pursue the matter, they could abandon it and such officers sitting on it would convert such benefits to their own advantage. If the funds are managed by IGI Plc, under the supervision and coordination of the Office of Head of Service of the Federation, who should be held responsible for this delay, the Insurance Company or the Coordinating Office?
In fact, I must concede, that the real problem with Nigeria like Chinua Achebe said many years ago, is Leadership. It is leadership style of government or an Organization that will give room for any kind of thing to happen. Corruption cannot be a way of life in any society if the leadership does not condone it. There are thousands of people out there in the society who suffer the same fate with the family of JANET UHUO NWALI but have nobody to speak for them. It is important that the office of Head of Service of the Federation resolve the issues of death benefits of people under her supervision. It is also important that Industrial and General Insurance Plc should deliver on its obligations to the public servants if it is the one saddled with the insurance of those officers who have died which their families are not able to access their benefits. Change involves attitude and public reorientation.
