PenCom Promises Improved Service Delivery To Pensioners

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has said it is building a process that will bring about increased effectiveness and efficiency as well as improved service delivery in the pension industry.

The commission also announced its commitment to creating awareness and holding social dialogue on the workings of its Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) with relevant stakeholders towards the smooth implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.

Director-general of the commission Aisha Dahir-Umar made the promise yesterday at a workshop organised for journalists in Abuja.

The director general pointed to recent reforms by PenCom, including increased the minimum regulatory capital (shareholders’ fund) requirements of pension fund administrators (PFAs) from N1 billion to N5 billion last year as some of the steps the commission has taken to deliver improved service to pensioners.

The recapitalisation exercise had a 12-month transition from April 27 2021, to April 27 2022. As of the deadline, all PFAs have complied with the commission’s directive to increase the minimum regulatory capital (shareholders’ fund) from N1 billion to N5 billion.

According to Dahir-Umar, the recapitalisation exercise was to ramp up the capacity of the PFAs to manage the increasing number of registered contributors and pension fund assets, the value of which “I am pleased to inform you stood at 9,795,957 and N14.27 trillion, respectively, as of June 30, 2022.”

The theme of this year’s workshop, “Increasing Informal Sector Participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS): The case for Micro Pension Plan.”

“Strategic efforts to drive the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) remain one of the important areas of focus of the commission,” the PenCom boss said. The MPP was conceptualised to expand pension coverage to the informal sector, including small-scale businesses, entertainers, professionals, petty traders, artisans, and entrepreneurs.

The micro pension plan is being implemented to curb old-age poverty by assisting the workers, as mentioned above, to contribute while working and build long-term savings to fall back on when they become old. To boost confidence in the participation of the MPP, the commission is strategising to provide incentives such as health insurance.