EDITORIAL: Post Retirement Poverty

A specter haunts Nigeria and it should be depicted as post-retirement poverty. It is real, debilitating, immoral, and has unacceptable social and economic consequences. It is reflected in flashes of protests in various states across the nation. And with the increasing fiscal dysfunction at all levels, it Is going to be on the front burner for a long time 

Pension reforms have helped, unfortunately there is persistent maladministration and fraud. It is also unacceptable that Nigeria does not have inflation-adjusted pensions which some less endowed African countries have. This should now be a key demand.

It is disheartening that the pressure groups agitating for the rights of pensioners and the aged have not formed themselves into the highly effective movements we have seen elsewhere. They should. Politicians seeking reelection are vulnerable and a block vote of determined pensioners is not to be sniffed at. In this electoral cycle, they should become more assertive and better organised.