The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Wednesday frowned at over N3.4 billion pension funds held back by some states governments from deductions made from employees’ salaries under the employees’ Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs).
The Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, who expressed the reservation at the 2019 second quarter consultative forum consisting of critical pension stakeholders in Lagos, said from the N3.4billion pension contributions, not remitted into the RSA’s as May 31, over 38 per cent of the amount had been outstanding for over one year
The forum, organised by the Commission, consists of critical pension stakeholders from across the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The PenCom Acting Director General who was represented by Mr Dan Ndackson, PenCom’s Head, State Operations Department, noted that the forum enabled stakeholders to brainstorm on challenges in the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), with a view to proffering solutions to such challenge within the ambit of the CPS.
She however said that all compliance officers of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFA’s) have been incorporated into the forum to ensure that the issue of service delivery occupies a pride of place in the forum’s deliberations.
The PenCom boss urged the stakeholders to deliberate on the recurring issue of unremitted pensions remorsefully.
She said that a major item which should occupy the front burner during the deliberations is the recurring issue of non-remittances, which denies concerned employees the investment income that should have accrued to them.
All hands must be on deck to address this problem holistically. The stakeholders must be mindful that the hopes of prospective retirees are hinged on the successful implementation of the CPS, which was instituted in response to the failure of the Defined Benefits Scheme (DBS).
“It is also heart-warming to observe the steady progress of CPS in some states, especially with regards to remittance of pension contributions.
“Returns submitted to the Commission by the PFAs further revealed that over N8.09 billion were remitted as pension contributions of state employees in the first quarter of 2019,” , Dahir-Umar said.
She said that the second quarter in the country’s pension landscape recorded remarkable achievements.
Dahir-Umar said the Pencom so far, has conducted three PFA branches inspections in Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states.
According to her, as more inspections of PFA branches are coming, the Commission was currently utilising the outcomes of the inspections to ensure that PFAs take necessary remedial actions for excellent service delivery in the Pension Industry.
Over 60 critical pension stakeholders were present at the forum.
“Some on the prominent personalities that attended the forum included the Head of Service (HoS), Adamawa state, Director-General, Ondo-State Pension Commission, Mr Jayeola Olowosuko, the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Training, office of HoS, Adamawa-state, Prince Talmon Fwa, a first class chief in Adamawa of a tribe of Mbula.