Informal sector pension registrants remit N435b to CPS
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Up to 95,045 informal sector workers have signed on the Micro Pension Plan (MPP) of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and contributed more than N435.6 million in April, according to the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
Dauda Ahmed, PenCom Head of Micro Pensions Department, disclosed these details at a workshop organised in Lagos for Labour Writers’ Association of Nigeria (LAWAN).
Ahmed said total withdrawals totalled N30.3 million and conversion from informal to formal amounted to N6.51 million.
He lamented the lack of adequate incentives to encourage participation and different competing products in the market with more flexibility towards access to funds.
He also cited negative perception and trust deficit as challenges.
Ahmed stressed it has become imperative to have workers financially inclusive with statistics showing that more than 80 per cent of the working population falls under the informal sector.
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Driving processes
Currently, Ahmed added, only 10 per cent is contributed, thereby calling for more advocacy.
“We are driving processes to make it more acceptable. In the informal sector, there is a lot of money there, but how can you tap into it? It needs a lot of sustained awareness creation,” he said, per The Guardian.
“Having a financially inclusive informal sector serves as a vehicle for national development. To achieve the 40 per cent pension participation, the need for an urgent and effective policy, as well as regulatory response to large scale pension inclusion of the informal sector was desired.”
PenCom Head of Communications Abdulqadir Dahiru took the workshop participants through an overview of pension schemes and reiterated the commitment of the Commission to ensuring the safety of pension funds and the provision of excellent services to stakeholders through the implementation of various reforms.
As the pension industry and financial system evolve, PenCom will continue to strive to surmount the challenges facing CPS, Dahiru pledged.
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