Civil Society Groups Lament Attacks on Pencom DG

Segun James

A coalition of civil society (CCS) groups have cautioned against what it called, “frivolous allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement” against the Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar.

The group, in a statement signed by Ebun Sowumi for the Campaign for Democracy (CD); Alex Omotehinse for Centre for Human Rights and Justice; Emmanuel Goodnews for Sustainable Initiative for Good Governance; Declan Ihehaire for Activists for Good Governance, and Sola Abisogun for Media Rights Concern, among others, lamented, “the recent happenings at the National Pension Commission, where a group of persons have decided to embark on a campaign of calumny against the Director General of the Commission, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar on the frivolous allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement.”
According to them, “these groups of persons are trying either by hook or crook to hold the Commission to ransom for their selfish gains and interests. The information available indicates that some persons who we have uncovered are at the vanguard of these efforts.

“These people, whose corrupt past has been brought to the attention of the Director General of PenCom, thinks they can divert attention from their persons to destroy one of the enviable institutions in the country today.”

They complained that, “the agenda of these individuals is to deploy coordinated media attacks to draw the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari to remove the Director General PenCom despite her sterling achievements since her assumption of office in 2017.

“One thing we are 100 per cent sure of is that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and the International community are very well aware of the transformational leadership that Mrs. Dahir-Umar has brought to the Commission since the assumption of office.”
They stressed that, “it is on record that under the leadership of the current Director General, the National Pension Commission has recorded the following unprecedented feat as follows:
“The exponential growth of pension assets from N6.42 trillion in 2017 when she assumed office to N14.6 trillion as of October 2022 shows an increase of over 100 per cent in Nigeria’s pension assets.
“Successful recapitalisation of the pension industry from N1 billion to N5 billion. A move that has increased investor confidence in the sector.
“The introduction of the multi-fund structure in the investment of pension fund assets to address the investment appetite and preference of contributors and their age profile.
“Approving a structured reduction of fees on the Net Asset Value of pension fund assets; and introducing the Micro Pension Plan for the participation of informal sector workers in the Contributory Pension Scheme.”
In addition, the group listed the, “introduction of mortgage scheme for Retirement Savings Account Holders, the first of its kind that will enable RSA holders to use the balance of their RSA savings for mortgage, among many other brilliant innovations introduced by her.”
They stated that the Pencom boss’ reforms led to the approval by the president towards the end of last year, the sum of N159.466 billion for the payment of outstanding accrued rights and other pension liabilities of the government’s retirees.

They insisted that President Muhammadu Buhari and stakeholders in the pension sector were aware of these giant strides and, “will not be distracted by the cheap blackmail by a group of persons on account of their dislike for the Principled and determined stance of the DG to her responsibilities.”