Accrued Pension Rights: FG Still Owing 18,000 Retired Employees
•As PenCom plans to remodel micropension scheme
Nume Ekeghe and Ebere Nwoji
Despite the N44 billion released by the federal government for payment of Accrued Pension Rights of its retired employees last month, (November) the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said that government is still owing 18,000 retired workers’ Accrued Pension Rights.
PenCom said to boost the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), it would remodel the Micro Pension Scheme in 2025.
The Director General National Pension Commission (PenCom), Ms. OmololaBridget Oloworaran, who disclosed this yesterday at the 2024 media retreat organised by PenCom for journalists in Lagos, said the 18,000 retirees whose Accrued Pension Rights are yet to be paid were workers who retired between October 2023 up to date.
She said the N44 billion paid last month which was provided by government during this year’s budget covered rights of government employees who retired between March to September 2023, as well as some deceased employees.
The PenCom Director General said in its 20 years of practice in Nigeria, the CPS has recorded a lot of achievements.
She however said despite these achievements, some of which were growing the sector’s assets from over N2 billion deficit to the current N21.9 trillion assets and record of 10.5 million contributors, the challenge of inflation which has reduced the purchasing power of retirees and delay in payment of Accrued Rights of workers have remained major challenges of the CPS.
She however said PenCom was making efforts to ensure that the federal government cleared all outstanding Accrued Rights of its retired employees.
The PenCom DG stated: “Inflation, for instance, continues to erode the purchasing power of pensioners, and we are actively seeking innovative solutions to address this issue. We also continue to face the persistent issue of delays in the payment of Accrued Rights.
“Recently, N44 billion was approved under the 2024 budget appropriation to settle Accrued Pension Rights for retirees from March to September 2023. Moving forward, we are working with the federal government to put in place a sustainable solution that ensures retirees receive their benefits promptly and without undue stress”.
She said the theme of this year’s conference, “Tech-Driven Transformation: Shaping the Pension Landscape,” couldn’t have been more fitting than now when technology has become the backbone of transformation across all sectors, and the pension industry could not be exempted.
“At PenCom, we have embraced this transformation wholeheartedly. Today, we have over 10.5 million contributors and oversee pension assets in excess of N21.9 trillion as of October. This progress demonstrates the strength of our contributory pension system”.
She said since her assumption of office, her team had focused on strengthening compliance, enhancing service delivery, diversifying pension assets to optimisereturns, improving benefits, and expanding coverage to include more Nigerians, especially those in the informal sector.
According to her, the micro-pension initiative in particular was something the present administration in PenCom was very passionate about.
“It is our way of saying that no one should be left behind, no matter how small their earnings might be. Technology plays a vital role in driving this inclusion, from mobile enrollment to real-time account management to benefits administration. We intend to use technology to scale the micro-pension plan,” she said.
She highlighted some of the initiatives and achievements of her administration saying this year, the commission has achieved a major milestone with the launch of the e-Application Portal for Pension Clearance Certificates (PCC) in October.
According to her, the initiative replaces the previous manual process, enabling companies to seamlessly apply for and receive PCCs online.
She noted that since its deployment the commission has issued over 38,000 Pension Compliance Certificates significantly enhancing ease of doing business and ensuring compliance.
Her words: “Additionally, the pension industry shared service initiative is in advanced stages of implementation.
“This initiative will digitise pension contributions and remittances, ensuring seamless processing of contributions and resolving discrepancies caused by incomplete remittance details”.
She said to further enhance contributors’ experiences, the commission has introduced a revised programme withdrawal template, simplifying access to voluntary contributions and revising the threshold for en-bloc payments in line with the new minimum wage.
“These measures are designed to make retirement processes more efficient and user-centric. But, beyond policies and systems, what really excites me is the potential to transform lives”, she said.
