• Pay N24.6b to retirees since 2004

About 8,4000 retirees nationwide have received N24.6 billion from Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) since the Pension Act was enacted in 2004, but non remittance of deductions by employers still plagues the scheme.

Pension fund operators at the May Day rally in Lagos.

Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) Executive Secretary, Susan Oranye, who disclosed this in Lagos, said the National Pension Commission (PenCom) plans a clampdown on organisations that fail to remit employees’ contributions.

She reiterated the need for workers to maintain retirement savings account (RSA), adding that non remittance is a huge challenge for PenCom, Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) and allied bodies.

“Remittance is a challenge,” she said, “but it is something that PenCom as well as all the different operators are facing, and are trying to handle. (PenCom) is coming out with lists of recalcitrant employers.”

Oranye urged employers to see the remittance of pension funds as a corporate social responsibility (CSR).

PenCom, PenOp and other operators, such as PFAs and Pension Fund Consultants (PFCs), are arranging seminars to find out what is preventing employers from remitting employees’ contributions.

“The funds are for their employees and it can be seen as a form of CSR on the part of employers because when you are seen to be looking after your employees in the expectation of pension, and your employees are comfortable, definitely they will be loyal, because they know that you care about their welfare.

“And as long as they have that mindset, they are more loyal to you, work harder, they are more productive and the bottom line grows,” Oranye said.

She praised the work of PenCom in the last eight years but stressed that the industry still needs more awareness and communications.

“This is a new dispensation and this is what we are trying to get the workers to understand, that this is not the old scheme and this is not the scheme where people line up, cry and beg for their money.

“The new contributory pension scheme is really working, it is really focused on Nigerian workers, it is transparent, fully funded, safe and every worker should join.”

Oranye implored employers to open retirement savings account for employees and urged workers to see the scheme as the opportunity to work hard and retire well.

A member of PenOp Rebranding Committee, Idu Okwuosa, who is also a senior manager at Stanbic IBTC, said pension awareness is still very low in the country despite the fact that Nigeria has the hardest working individuals on the African continent.

His words: “PenOp is creating increased awareness for the importance of pension for the individual. We are also trying to create awareness of the importance to the employers, so they know that pension is not just a bill that they need to be paid, because everyone is saying if I can avoid it why would I pay it?”

The truth of the matter, he stressed, is that pension plan has far reaching ramifications on employees and if employees are not happy, or not comfortable, they will not work.