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From Joseph Inokotong, Abuja
Employees in the five South East states may be in for hard times after their retirement following the inability of the state governments to fully implement the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Information from the National Pension Commission (PenCom) showed that aside Anambra State that has partly implemented the CPS, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states are yet to implement the scheme.
The implication is that on retirement, employees of these states would not be able to get the entitlements due to them.
Records from PenCom indicated that Anambra government in 2013 enacted a law on CPS, amended some sections in 2014 and went ahead to register employees with Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), remitting 10 per cent employer and five per cent employee contributions. It said the state remitted employer pension contributions up to December 2017 and remitted employee pension contribution up to August 2020 for employees.
It, however, indicated that Anambra was yet to open retirement benefits bond redemption fund account for state employees nor commenced funding of accrued pension rights for state employees and had no group life insurance policy for workers.
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In Anambra, the PenCom document also showed “irregular funding of accrued pension rights for local government employees; yet to establish Pension Bureau, implementation being driven by Office of the Head of Service and Joint Account Allocation Committee.”
In Abia, the document showed the state government enacted a law on CPS in 2017, but was yet to establish a Pension Bureau, nor register state employees with PFAs. The state is also yet to commence remittance of pension contributions nor conduct actuarial valuation.
Abia has also not opened retirement benefits bond redemption fund account, yet to commence funding of Accrued Pension Rights and has no group life insurance policy.
In Ebonyi, the PenCom record indicated that the government “enacted law on CPS in 2017,amended the law and forwarded to the commission and the commission communicated its observations on the law to the state, but the state is yet to establish Pension Bureau; yet to register employees with PFAs; yet to commence remittance of pension contributions; yet to conduct actuarial valuation; yet to open Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account; yet to commence funding of Accrued Pension Rights and has no group life insurance policy.”
The PenCom document showed that Enugu State government “enacted law on CPS in 2014; yet to establish Pension Bureau; yet to register state employees; yet to commence remittance of pension contributions; yet to conduct actuarial valuation; yet to open Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account; yet to commence funding of Accrued Pension Rights and has no group life insurance policy.”
In Imo, the government “enacted Law on CPS in 2008; yet to establish Pension Bureau; yet to register employees with PFAs; yet to commence remittance of Pension Contributions; yet to conduct actuarial valuation; yet to open Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund Account; yet to commence funding of Accrued Pension Rights and has no group life insurance policy.”
