The National Pension Commision (PenCom),says pension fund assets had risen to N12.66 trillion as at June 30, 2021.
It also said contributors under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) has grown to 9.38 million mark.
The Director General, PenCom , Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar,disclosed this in Lagos at the 2021 Journalist Workshop, where she maintained
that the consistent growth trajectory justified the commission’s overriding investment philosophy of ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.
She assured pension stakeholders that the implementation of the CPS remained on course.
Dahir-Umar,who was represented at the event
by Mr Peter Aghahowa, Head, Corporate Communication, PenCom, Dahir-Umar,explained that the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a review of business processes across various organisations, which made it imperative for the commision to deepen technology innovation.
She said:“COVID-19 has engendered socio-economic disruptions of the entire global order, with multifarious challenges in conducting hitherto routine activities. It was, therefore, imperative for the commission to deepen technological innovation to navigate through the challenges imposed by the pandemic.
“The most recent technological innovation introduced by the commission is the in-house designed and developed online enrolment application. The application has capabilities to register, verify and enroll prospective retirees of Treasury-Funded Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs),” she said.
She said based on the deployment of this new application, mass gathering of people has been avoided while enhancing convenience for the prospective retirees through a seamless enrolment process.
She said that public enlightenment and education was one of the five strategic focus areas currently pursued by the commission.
“This is considered germane considering that 17 years after the pension reform in Nigeria, there still exists a knowledge gap on the CPS.
“Consequently, the commission is committed to reinvigorating its public enlightenment and education drive in order to address this challenge,” she said.
According to her, other strategic focus areas of PenCom include the resolution of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government; portfolio diversification of pension fund investments.
Meanwhile,the National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Monday said it has started payment of the 2.5 per cent differentials of 2004 and 2014 specified by the Pension Reform Act (PRA) to retirees in the country
Mr Saleem Abdulrahman, Head, Contribution and Bond Redemption Department, PenCom,disclosed that the beneficiaries were retirees between 2019 and 2020 of the Federal Government Treasury Funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA’s).
Abdulrahman,who stated this at the 2021 Journalist Workshop organised by the Commision in Lagos with the theme: “Positioning the Pension Industry in the Post COVID Era.”,explained that the commission had also begun computing the details of retirees between July 1, 2014 to Dec. 2018 and would pay them soon.
He added:“Some of the retirees may likely get additional lumpsum or enhanced annuity or programmed withdrawal”.
