By Maduka Nweke
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has warned that the planned amendment to the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA) if passed into law is capable of scaring away foreign investors from the country.
The Commission noted that the exemption of some agencies of government from the pension scheme would result in loss of confidence in the nation’s pension reform and other reform initiatives of government.
This was parts of submissions by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) at the public hearing on the proposed amendment pension to the Reform Act 2014 in Abuja. The pension regulator said if the amendment is allowed, the growing culture of national savings built within the last decade would be destroyed, adding that due to the successful implementation of the pension reform, the discipline with which the industry players have been discharging their responsibilities and the resultant impact on the economy, foreign investors have invested heavily in some major Pension Fund Administrators.
“There are still some expressions of interest by foreign investors to obtain stakes in the pension administration business in Nigeria. Indeed, the private sector, including these foreign investors in the Nigerian financial sector and the Nigerian economy, would question the commitment of Government to the pension and other reforms due to such policy reversals,” its Acting Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said.
Former Board Member of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and Director, Centre for Pension Right Advocacy Mr Ivor Takor, MNI, said if the Bill is passed into law, it will bring un-intended outcomes, that may negatively affect industrial relations in the country and the economy due to the following: Other public servants through their unions, may commence agitations including strike actions to get governments, federal and states to take them out of the CPS.