The National Pension Commission (PenCOM) says its Pension Asset Under Management so far stands at an impressive N16.76 trillion.
The Director General of the commission, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, said this on Tuesday at a one-day sensitisation programme to educate the Organised Private Sector (OPS) on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
reports that the event was organised in collaboration with the Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA) in Port Harcourt.
Dahir-Umar said that the figure was an indication that the scheme had operated satisfactorily and effectively since its inception.
She said that the sensitisation programme was to provide a platform for the stakeholders to deliberate on the current developments and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014) for OPS.
The PenCOM boss, represented by the Head, Compliance and Enforcement Department of PenCom, Mr Bala Babangida, said that over 10 million employees had so far registered in the scheme since the implementation of the Act.
According to her, at the end of the third quarter of 2023, the number of Retirment Savings Accounts (RSA) under the CPS stood at 10 million and the Pension Asset Under Management amounted to N16.76 trillion.
“The 10 million plus is the registration count from the beginning of 2004, when the Act became effective.
“We have in our registration database no fewer than 10 million registered RSA holders.
She said that the N16.76 trillion was the pension assets that were being managed for the benefit of all retirement savings account holders.
According to him, when they retire, they will get their benefits as and when due,” she said.
She further said that the commission specifically deployed the Enhanced Contributors Registration System (ECRS) for the pension industry.
She said that the commission, following the deployment of the ECRS, introduced the Data Recapture Exercise (DRE).
She said that the DRE “mandatorily requires all RSA holders, who joined the CPS, prior to July 1, 2019, to update their information with their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).
She said that the commission was saddled with the responsibility of supervising the transfer of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) contributions of employees into their respective RSA under the CPS.
She said that contributions worth N10.20 billion had been transferred to the RSAs of 142,486 NSITF scheme contributors to date.
Dahir-Umar commended NECA for offering its platform for continuous social dialogue with the members of the OPS on the implementation of the CPS.
She gave assurance that the commission would always support NECA to champion programmes that would help to ensure the successful implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.
She advised employers of labour to encourage their employees, who have contributed to the NSITF scheme, to liaise with their PFAs, particularly Trustfund Pensions, for guidance on how to have their contributions transferred to their RSAs.
In a speech, the Director-General of NECA, Mr Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, said that the agency, as an umbrella body of all employers of labour in the country, had at least 4,000 employers.
Oyerinde was represented at the event by Mr Godfrey Agorom, the Chairman of NECA, Port Harcourt Geographical Group, comprising Rivers and Bayelsa States, who is also the OPS Chairman.
He said that the private sector remained committed to the success of the pension scheme as long as it’s concerns were not only noted but addressed expeditiously.
He said that the interactive session was organised to sensitise both the employees and employers on the overview of the CPS; compliance with the provisions of the PRA; investment of pension assets and current developments in the pension industry.
He said that many employers did not know how to go about the retirement savings of their workers.
“The current percentage is that the employee pays eight per cent of his monthly salary and the employer pays 10 per cent of the employees monthly salary.
“In a month, the employee has 18 per cent of your salary set aside paid to your pension administrators, which they invest for money flow, at retirement, you have fund accumulated for you to withdraw,” Onyerinde said. (NAN). READ ALSO:
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