8.85 million Nigerians contribute N9.58 trillion as pension — PenCom

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Thursday disclosed that the number of registered contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) stood at 8.85 million as at September.

The Director-General of PENCOM, Aisha Dahir-Umar, made the disclosure at the 2019 Journalists Workshop, with the theme, “Expanding Coverage of the Pension Industry”, organised by the commission in Benin, Edo State.

Mrs Dahir-Umar, represented by Kunle Odebiyi, Head, Micro Pensions Department, PenCom, noted that the Pension Fund Assets (PFAs) was N9.58 trillion during the same period under review.

She explained that the growth justified the commission’s emphasis on the safety of pension funds as the bedrock of sustaining the Contributory Pension Scheme.

The PenCom boss assured stakeholders that the pension reform remained steadily on course.

“We have remained focused on concluding some of the pension industry’s transformational initiatives which the commission has been pursuing.

“These modest milestones, notwithstanding, the commission and pension operators are committed to actualising the growth potential of the industry.

“The theme of this workshop describes the commission’s current strategic focus, which aims to expand access to pension via the CPS, as a veritable tool for economic development,” she said.

She said the CPS aligns with the pension reform objective of old age poverty reduction and improvement in the welfare and general standard of living.

The director-general said the quest to expand coverage of pension was being pursued through some transformational initiatives, especially the Micro Pension Plan (MPP), launched by President Muhammadu Buhari in March.

She explained that the MPP targeted at the informal sector and self-employed was designed with significant flexibility in recognition of the peculiarities of the targeted population.

“It is our expectation that the media practitioners will utilise the opportunity of this workshop to understand the essence and workings of the MPP and amplify the same in their reportage for the overall benefit of Nigerians,” she said.

On the integrity of the PenCom database, Mrs Dahir-Umar said the commission had developed an in-house ICT application in June called the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) to ensure personal details of participants were safe.

She also said the ECRS had also been integrated with the National Identity Management Commission database to help authenticate the uniqueness of individuals seeking to register under the CPS.

“The ECRS provides a platform for the registration of MPP and is a major step toward the introduction of the transfer window.

“This will enable contributors to change to the PFAs of their choice, in line with Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014,” she said.

The director-general, however, lauded the media for collaborating with the commission in ensuring effective report and advance public awareness on the tenets of the CPS and the successes recorded over the years.

She said, “We are committed to sustaining this worthy collaboration in the overall interest of pension contributors and retirees.” (NAN)