CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

   The work that one does gives status to the person. It gives a meaning to life and feelings contribution to general welfare. Work also permits a person to be active and to be constructive social interaction with others. In spite of the fact that works brings fulfillment. One must retire from active service as one cannot deny the fact that as workers grow older, they make into a social group that is separate from the younger workers. Increasing physical and metal limitation associated with advancing in age; make it difficult for such people to work safely and competently to maintain previous level of performance. At the stage of retirement, the workers output reaches diminishing return. It becomes necessary for the worker to stop working, if his employer wants to minimize loss although not everyone with generous pension. Retirement as defined by Donnelly [1992-326] as the changes in Job situation where by the individual gives up his job when diminishing return set in.

 Eze [2001-13] explain retirement where the employer is dissatisfied by the job performance of the employee. The German chancellor, OHO UOU BISMACCLE in 1880’’ started the concept of retirement age of sixty-five years. Insurance company began to use that retirement age planning retirement and annuity programmed through the retirement age way in countries and organization. Nigeria operates one of the generous pensions in the world. After ten years of services, could then retire and enjoy the rest of his active life. Implications of Nigeria pension scheme is that, the public service is seen as being move lucrative. Pension is defined as a kind of annuity for the retired public servants for life [in some cases also his dependents after his death]. Pension is paid in fixed monthly amount, often times, a certain percentage of the salary is paid. From the government point of view the pension is given in recognition of long monotonous services. The pension system unless specially adopted to meet the hardship to the family of a white collar or blue collar workers, who die prematurely in service or on the verge of retirement or before enjoying the pensioners benefit for any appreciable period. Pension can be classified as contributory and non-contributory. When both the government and the employee contribute (not necessary equally) towards its payment. It is non-contributory, if the whole amount for its payment is funded by the government or the employer. There is no much of difference between the two financially speaking, if the pension scheme is non-contributory, the salaries will be proportionately lower and vice versa. Employee’s contribution creates a sort of night for him to pension and he may claim a voice in the management scheme.

1.2 Statement of the problem.

      The major reason for establishing the pension scheme is to provide the employee with a means of security on retirement, a standard of living reasonably consistent with that enjoyed when at work. In developed countries, the workers look forward to retirement but in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. The reason is mainly that of mismanagement and corruption.

The management of pension scheme has made things so hard for the workers that, a retiree has to travel long distance to get his pension paid. It has been observed that those who are retired, while pursing papers in Abuja or Lagos end up running out of cash and sleeping under bridges, railways stations, post offices, churches or mosques, some even die in the process.

      The head of service of the federation while addressing pension scheme in Nigeria opined that inefficiency mainly due to inadequate funding, ignorance of employer’s mismanagement of funds and gross indiscipline by pension managers are major problems for the effect of these on the workers could be very drastic that is why, this research is intended to suggest solutions to the problems of mismanagement of pension schemes.

1.3 Purpose of the study

      The major aim of this research is to investigate how government regulates and manage pension scheme in Enugu public service, specifically, the study is to :-

1. Find out why the pensioners are not receiving their pension as not when due?
2. To find out the problems the pensioners encounter in collecting their pensions.
3. To find out the role of government in the pension scheme of the state.
4. To find out the solutions to the various problems.

1.4 Signiificance of the study.

This study will highlight the need for re-organization of the pension scheme with a view to adopting more dedicated and national Approach, in order to avoid the incessant verification and identification parades which has lead to the sudden death of pensioners while wanting to collect their pension.

The study will also help pension managers as it will address the issue of abundment of pensioners and military veterans who served the country during their old age when they richly needed love. Support and above all respect, it also helps to broaden student’s knowledge on this particular research problem. It enables one to have a deeper insight into the problem inter investigations.

The major result of this study will help the pension managers to know the area of problems of pensioners and advance proper way of handle them.

It will also expose government on the suffering of these old people and make laws that will alleviate the suffering. 

The research question

This research question enables us to ask some questions based on our findings.

The questions are:-

1. Why are the pensioners not receiving their pension as at when due?
2. What are the problems the pensioners encounter in collecting their pensions?
3. What is the role of government in the pension scheme of the state?
4. What are the solutions to the various problems?

1.6 The scope of the study:

         The object of this research work is to find out the effect of management of pension schemes in Enugu public service; its scope is limited to the department of pension / establishment Enugu North. The scope of the study is to examine the limited time available for the completion of the project. However, the study also limit financial constraints, not all the needed information, was properly provided as a result of ignorance with some of the integument.

1.7 Definition of important terms

DECREES: – There are law-made by a despot it is the way of making laws in military government. The law2ws made by the highest ruling body truing a military regime are as decrees.

Diminishing returns: – The laws, of diminishing return state that as more of a variable factor of production is added to a fixed supply of land, a point will reach when average, output will diminish. This necessitable the retirement of old sapped workers to make room for the younger generation.

Lead of services: – The means a worker divided by the working hour which is a system of measurement used to calculate the output.

Management: – Management is the process of combining of allocating and organizing, directing and controlling for the purpose of producing output which could be in from of goods and services so to attain organizational goals (Akpala:1990:3).

Organization: – An .organization is the working together of two arrives at a goal (stone: 1992:4)

Pension Act: – The pension act is the enabling laws of the federal republic of Nigeria that brought the pension scheme into existence the enabling act is decree 102 of 1979 .

Public Service: – Scheme 20 of decree 102 of 1979 listed all the organization decrees as public service the public service is government establishment that include statuary co-operation and the civil services.