‘Micro Pension To Boost Economy With N13trn’
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oak Pensions Limited, Mr Samuel Inyang
Nigerian economy will receive a boost as the Micro Pension Plan recently launched by President Mohammadu Buhari is capable of generating over N13 trillion if the potentials are well harnessed.
Mr Samuel Inyang, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Oak Pensions Limited, disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Lagos.
The Oak Pensions’ boss who cited a study conducted by the Price Water Coopers reveals that about N13 trillion could be generated from the micro pension sub-sector if the operators do what is right to achieve grassroots penetration with the new pension product, adding that Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs) that may have done their homework would worth the while.
Highlighting the initial challenges at the takeoff of the scheme recently, the pension expert noted that the initial challenges border on low public education and awareness on the benefits of the scheme stressing that with time when Nigerians begin to buy into the scheme there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
“Obviously in the beginning we need to deploy a lot of resources into it. It is not a business that is going to impact on the bottom-line so soon because at the throttling stage a lot of resources such as manpower, equipment and other infrastructures are put into it to run the scheme and of course, trust Nigerians, for a new initiative such as this, they are wary of it but once it kicks off by Nigerians buying into it, will make a significant impact.” said Mr Inyang.
He added: “The major challenge is that we still have to do a lot of awareness; we have to create more awareness in the minds of Nigerians. Typically Nigerians are so scared about things like this. We still have the mentality of pension before the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), how we used to queue up and suffer to get pensions. But the micro pension is quite different. So the issue is getting Nigerians buy into it.
The Managing Director noted the poor state of the economy, which he said is quite difficult for a lot of people to keep their lives going talk less of saving to the time one is 50 years. “It is quite challenging”, he said.
“So, a lot of education needs to be done to see the need to cultivate savings. It is very difficult for you to save money, put it in the bank account the slightest problem you go and access it but for it to be tying it into micro pension plan, at least you can have access to 40 per cent while 60 per cent will wait until you’re age of 50. It is a good thing but we really need to educate a lot of people. ” he added.
On the strategies put in place to effectively sell this plan to grassroots people, he disclosed that the operators in collaboration with the PenCom are doing everything possible in ensuring that the message gets to the grassroots by intensive synergy with major institutions and banks to drive the scheme.
“There are lots of ways to access the grassroots. At the launch by the president there was a little clip of a play by the National Pension Commission that depicts the whole essence of micro pension. Awareness in electronic media, print media, door-to-door as well as mouth-to-mouth contacts will make a great difference. We are working with orgainsations with mass grassroots outreach that work one-on-one and engage these people.”
“We may not be able to directly have the foot soldiers on our payroll to hit the street but we collaborate with institutions that have already been set up and that are what they have been doing. They are working with some of the major banks and firms. So this is the way we are collaborating apart from the adverts that are being done to enlighten the people and the outreach that are being done by the industry as a whole.”
He assured that his firm has also put in place some strategies to ensure that they too are not left out of the scheme of things.
