The PENCOM Storm

Last week, I had published the Right of Reply of one Aliyu Dankade, who was responding to an earlier column I wrote on what I believed was the over-reach of the then Director General of the Pension Commission (PENCOM), Ms Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, in some of her actions and inactions in the running of PENCOM, which had worsened the travails of the nation’s pensioners.

Dankade had lashed out at me with an unchecked tongue, calling me names and regaled us with the great deeds of the Anohu- Amazu-led PENCOM.

But before the end of last week, a presidential storm blew across the land, pulling down every husky structure not founded on justice and discipline. PENCOM, amongst 22 other federal organisations, was hit by the storm. Its DG was sacked! It is remarkable that of all those pulled down by the storm, AnohuAmazu alone, had a tenured term in office. She had scarcely gone halfway in her tenure.

Although no reasons were given for the sack, it cannot be unconnected with her arbitrariness and cocky attitude in running the PENCOM where she had served as Legal Adviser, before being appointed as DG.

She had tried to fight back by sponsoring some fire-free kicks that played up mundane cards of gender and tribe. They are surely no convincing reasons to deserve a review of the effect of the presidential storm.

The young lady was head over heels landing such a plum job and could hardly manage her cool. It is suspected that because she had some “backbone” at the time, the PENCOM Act was curiously amended to reduce the length of post-qualification (industry) experience of its DG, from 20 years to 15 years, so she can fit in. That explains why she had to serve in acting capacity from December 2012 to October 2014, so she can attain 15 years industry experience. She was shortly after, made a substantive DG!