The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said a total of 1.27 million retirees have benefited from the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), amounting to N2.72 trillion pension benefits since inception.
Speaking in Lagos at the 2023 Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) media parley with the theme, ‘At the dawn of 20 year Pension Reforms, What are the gains?,
Head of Surveillance Department PenCom, Ehimeme Ohioma said there was need to commend the pension industry for the success recorded so far in the CPS.
Ohioma, while disclosing that the pension fund assets had risen to N17.64 trillion as at October 2023 said retirees under CPS were enjoying compared to those under the old defined benefit scheme.
According to him, 1,183 Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders have so far accessed N13 billion as pension mortgage finance and that 17,376 retirement savings account holders have transferred N356 billion from one Pension Fund Administrator to another under the RSA transfer system.
He pointed out that N12 billion contributions from employees of defunct organisation, especially banks are unremitted to their owners who are unknown to PenCom and PFAs, stressing that PenCom had advertised for workers in such defunct organisation to come forward with evidence to enable the PFAs transfer the funds to their RSAs.
Earlier in his speech, the President of PenOp Olumide Oyetan, commended the commission not only for its support over the years but also for setting up a framework to ensure operators play by the rules.
According to him, CPS remains one of the greatest national policies from democracy, stating that before commencement of the CPS, retirees were subjected to old age poverty as they were unable to get their pension at retirement.
Oyetan who doubles as the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited pointed out that the CPS is unique due to the safe valves, checks and balances ensured by the tripod structure which are the regulator, PFAs and Pension Fund Custodians (PFCs).
Insisting that service delivery is the key in the industry, he said it is “to ensure that the industry has efficient and effective service delivery the commission in 2022 increased the minimum regulatory capital for Pension Fund
Administrators.”
Chief Executive Officer Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Oguche Agudah, said the event was organised to keep journalists abreast of strides recorded so far in the pension industry and to also interact with them on how to improve service delivery in the sector.
He noted that the industry in the year 2024 would experience great transformations going by innovations being worked on by PenCom and operators.
