By Favour Udeh
States that failed to register their employees in the new pension scheme may be putting them at risk at retirement as Trustfund Pension Administrator (PFA) said only few states are compliant to date.
Speaking at the Employers’ Forum/interactive session in Lagos, the Chief Compliance Officer, Trustfund Pension, Mrs. Rachael Obi, said the number of states that have registered their workers for the new pension are quite negligible.
Though she noted that Pension Commission (PENCOM), the overall body seeing to the administration of pension is working on states that are yet to comply, she warned that the workers may have nothing to fall back on if the states fail to make remittances for the workers’ future.
“The number of states that have registered so far are still quite small but those that are with us are doing well, especially Lagos, Delta and Rivers,” she said.
She, however, charged the other states to fulfil their responsibility towards their workers by ensuring that they register with the PFA so that they would have something to fall back on at retirement.
Obi said the law was explicit on the mode of operation of the new pension, which demanded that every employee, old or new, maintains a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) in his name with any PFA of his choice.
She stated further that deduction of the employee contribution should be done not later than seven working days from the day the employee is paid his salary, remit an amount comprising the employee’s contribution and the employer’s to the PFA of the employee.
She lamented that some employers have not been complying with the PENCOM guidelines but rather deduct and instead of remitting immediately, plough the fund back into their business.
She stated that the forum was organised to update the employers on the new guidelines from PENCOM as well as correct some misinformation most especially on the best way it would be easier for their employees to access their funds after retirement.
She explained that many things could stall payment of benefits to retirees, among others, improper names, multiple pins, date of birth, unremitted and excess contributions.
The compliance officer advised that in a case of excess remittances made, the employer can instruct Trustfund to use the excess for subsequent remittances or as an addition to subsequent remittances to be made. But in the case of under-remittance, the remittance would not be processed until the complete amount is paid.
In his presentation, Daniel Onatoye, representing Zenith Pension Custodian, the Trustfund bankers said unapplied and returned funds have continued to be the bane of pension industry. He said pensioners struggle to get benefits payment due to unapplied and returned funds.
He said, “pensioners in Nigeria receive payment instructions from Trustfund but they don’t get paid due to incomplete information such as Non-NUBAN account numbers and incomplete account numbers.”
“The return funds on the other hand are referred for reasons such as dormant and locked account, beneficiary decease account and restricted account.”
He further said that the transfer platform via Nigeria InterBank Settlement System (NIBSS) allows for a time lag of 24-48 hours for benefits payments and advised that Retirement Savings Account holders should contact Trustfund immediately if they don’t receive their fund.
He however advised that the employers should update details of employees with their PFA, adding that account name must tally with the RSA name while any changes due to marriage, location etc should be supplied with the correct documents.