The President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, had harsh words, on Tuesday, for those who loot pension funds: You are spending blood money.
Mark went further to say such looters cannot be free of the curses of the old pensioners whose money they take illegally.
Mark spoke at the opening of a three-day public hearing on the management of pension and administration in Nigeria convened by the Joint Committee on Establishment and Public Service and States and Local Governments.
He was represented by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba.
He said: “Can we, as a nation, say confidently that we have given our best to those who have served this country meritoriously? If not, then it is a blot on our national conscience.
“Every day, we hear of mind-boggling stories in the management of pension fund; how administrators of the fund are among the richest people in the country. If their wealth is from the pension fund, then, it is blood money.
“You cannot take away the entitlement of the old man and woman who is looking up to the nation believing that he or she will be rewarded by his labour and somebody believe he can feed fat on such money, you cannot live in peace.
“These people, the administrators stealing pension funds, can never live in peace because the prayers of these old men and women who have diligently served the country will haunt them and their children’s children.
“I implore the committee to unravel all the issues pertaining to the mismanagement of pension funds in the country and bring the perpetrators to book. Let me assure that this committee has the full backing of the Senate on this.”