By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited has urged employees to always update their information with their Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) to facilitate easy access to their retirement benefits.
Mr Eric Fajemisin, the Chief Executive Officer of the PFA stated this at the Stanbic IBTC Pension Employers’ Forum with the theme: “Emerging Trends in the Nigerian Pension Industry’’.
He urged employers to encourage their employees to leverage the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) newly deployed by the National Pension Commission (PENCOM) to ensure that their data was up to date.
The ECRS is an electronic platform for the submission of requests by PFAs for the registration of contributors and issuance of Personal Identification Numbers (PINs).
Fajemisin said that the system provides a more dynamic and friendly user interface that made the operation of data capturing seamless.
He expressed optimism that employees would encounter less difficulties in accessing their retirement benefits due to reduction of errors.
Also speaking, Mrs Yinka Johnson, Head Business Development Division, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers, said that the ECRS was introduced in June 2019 to ensure that everybody in the contributory pension scheme would have unique identity.
She expressed concern that many people have difficulties accessing their retirement benefits due to conflicting data.
“Data has become very important, so it is important that everybody has a unique identity. If your data is properly captured, you will not experience delays in having your money remitted when you retire.
“There is no need for conflicting date of birth and it is important to notify PFAs when phone numbers and home addresses are changed,’’ Johnson said.
Similarly, Mrs Oyikansola Coker, Head, Contributions and Collections Department, called for improved collaboration between PFAs and employees to enable contributors get value for their money.
