The pension fund assets accumulated under the Contributory Scheme in Nigeria was N12.66 trillion as at 30 June 2021, while the number of registered contributors has grown to 9.38 million, the Director General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Aisha Dahir-Umar, said.
She stated this at the workshop organised PenCom for journalists in Lagos on Monday. The theme of the workshop was “Positioning the Pension Industry in a Post COVID Era”.
The PenCom boss also informed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of some outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government, under the CPS.
This covered payment of outstanding accrued pension rights for verified and enrolled retirees of treasury-funded MDAs that are yet to be paid their retirement benefits, and the backlog of death benefits claims due to beneficiaries of deceased employees of treasury funded MDAs.
Similarly, the President also approved the payment of 2.5 percent differential in the rate of employer pension contribution for FGN retirees and employees, which resulted from the increase in the minimum pension contribution for employers from 7.5 percent to 10 percent, in line with Section 4(1) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, she added
She emphasised that these payments would boost the RSA balances of the beneficiaries towards better retirement benefits, while the settlement of these outstanding accrued pension rights of verified and enrolled FGN retirees would result in reversing a major challenge that has lingered since 2014.
She stressed that the commencement of payment of the reviewed monthly pension contribution rate by the Federal Government is another significant step in ensuring compliance with the PRA 2014.
According to her, the most recent technological innovation introduced by the Commission is the in-house designed and developed online Enrolment Application, which has capabilities to register, verify and enroll prospective retirees of Treasury-Funded Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
By the deployment of this new application, she pointed out that mass gathering of people has been avoided while enhancing convenience for the prospective retirees through a seamless enrolment process.
Another notable technological innovation by the Commission was the design and deployment of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) Transfer System (RTS), which was launched in November 2020, she further stated.
The RTS is a Computer Application developed by the Commission, through which RSA holders transfer their RSAs from one Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) to another. Indeed, the activation of the RSA transfer provision, which deepens individual choices, is a major milestone in the implementation of the CPS.
The PenCom DG reassured stakeholders that the implementation of the CPS remains on course, saying that the maintenance of a consistent growth trajectory continues to justify the Commission’s overriding investment philosophy of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.
She added that public enlightenment and education is one of the five Strategic Focus Areas currently pursued by the Commission, lamenting that there still exists a knowledge gap on the CPS, 17 years after the pension reform in Nigeria.
Consequently, she maintained that the Commission is committed to reinvigorating its public enlightenment and education drive in order to address this challenge.
Other Strategic Focus Areas include the resolution of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government; portfolio diversification of pension fund investments, improvement in customer service delivery across the pension industry and unrelenting pursuit of sustainable growth of the pension industry by expanding coverage of the CPS.
