PenCom Tasked On Protection Of Pension Assets
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has been charged to ensure the safety and protection of Nigeria’s pension assets.
The president, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mrs.Toki Mabogunje, gave the charge while speaking at the PenCom Special Day at the 2021 Lagos International Trade Fair in Lagos yesterday.
Mabogunje said: “Nigeria’s pension assets have reached N12.8 trillion as of September 2021 and still growing.
“While this is an impressive wealth accumulation, we urge PenCom to exercise the strictest form of supervision and monitoring to ensure the safety and profitability of these assets.
“The regulatory framework for the sector should be based on international best practice.”
She commended the leadership of PenCom for their innovative strategies aimed at increasing coverage, transparency and profitable management of pension assets.
“We, however, urge the management of PenCom to leverage more on technology and effective sensitization to achieve wider coverage, acceptance, and compliance among formal and informal sectors.
“With 9.44 million registrants on the contributory pension scheme as of September 2021, there is still so much room to achieve more coverage of workers in the scheme,” Mabogunje said.
She added that the trade fair was a very good platform for PENCOM to interface with hundreds of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises that were yet to be captured in the nation’s pension scheme.
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, who was represented at the occasion by Head, PenCom, South-West Office, Babatunde Alayande, said the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) launched by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 28, 2019 was aimed at expanding contributory pension scheme to the informal sector.
“This platform avails workers such as artisans and self-employed persons the opportunity to easily register and contribute in a flexible manner, and in a safe and secure environment for their pension at retirement.
“The MPP would ensure that there is pension coverage for all eligible Nigerians and provide access to other incentives for them,” he said.
Speaking on the Micro Pension Plan (MMP), Head, Micro Pensions Department, Mr. Dauda Ahmed, said the micro pension plan, has been well simplified to suit the target contributors.
For instance, he said under the initiative, 40 per cent of the amount contributed could be accessed by contributors for contingency purposes while the balance of 60 per cent would be set aside for retirement benefit.
He explained that while contributors could start drawing from their 40 per cent contributions after three months of making the initial deposit, the 60 per cent balance could only be accessed at the age of 50 or during retirement.
Mr. Dauda stated that the successful implementation of the micro pension scheme has the potential of reducing the poverty level by 85 per cent and guaranteeing good life at old age.
He said the Micro Pension Plan perfectly aligns with the current social empowerment programmes of the federal government, as it seeks to ensure, in the long-term, the sustainability of the benefits of the empowerment programmes for the participants, who may seize this opportunity to save for their old age.
“Our objective is to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery as well as transparency and accountability in the administration of the product by licensed pension operators,” he had said.
To drive the scheme, he said they have developed information technology to support the micro pension distribution plan.
On the benefit of the scheme to the targeted contributors, the PenCom Dauda said, “The implementation of the micro-pension plan will improve the standard of living of the informal sector participants at retirement and reduce dependence on extended family for support at retirement.
He said the micro pension scheme, as president Buhari’s initiative, was to address the exclusion of millions of traders, farmers and other entrepreneurs from the different pension programmes in existence.
