N18trn Pension Assets Safe, Well Invested – PenCom
By Henry Uche
To allay the fears of some persons over the way about of pension funds, the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has affirmed that the N18trn pension assets are safe, carefully-invested, and growing in leaps and bounds.
The Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahir-Umar made this affirmation while addressing the 2024 Congress of the Finance Correspondents Association of Nigeria (FICAN), recently in Abuja.
She assured that every kobo of the N18 trillion belongs to a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holder, a worker or a retiree. These funds according to her are been invested and the returns are automatically distributed back to the RSA holder except for the little allowable charges for the management and distribution of the pension funds.
The DG stressed that the practice in the past where pension funds were diverted into private pockets no longer exists in the present-day management of the funds. Adding, that as a regulator, its primary responsibility is to ensure that funds are safe, efficient, and effectively managed and that they are available to be paid as retirement benefits as and when due.
Represented by the Head, Corporate Communication, Mr. Ibrahim Buwai, the PenCom boss also disclosed that the Commission recovered a total sum of N45.45 billion unremitted contributions and penalties from employers between 2012 and 2023.
Giving a breakdown, she explained, “the principal contributions that were recovered were about N12.9bn while the penalty was about N12.5bn”.
According to her, both the penalty and principal recovered from the employers were paid into the individual RSAs. “Nobody takes a penny, not PFAs, not PenCom, nobody. All this money recovered was for RSA holders and it goes into RSA. What you can help us by way of employers is that it is not in their interests not to remit because it is cheaper to remit than not to remit”, she added.
Commenting on the Micro Pension Plan (MPP), Pencom boss emphasized the need for more public enlightenment campaigns for those in the informal sector to embrace the scheme.
She explained thus, “since the micro pension started, there are about 100,000 RSAs that have been opened and the contribution is just over N500 million. That is to tell you that there is still a long way to go. But what we can do on our part is just to continue to enlighten people, to show them that the micro pension plan acknowledges their rate of participation. It has been designed to take care of the peculiarity of that sector”,
She commended FICAN for the consistent reportage of the activities of the Commission and pension industry and assured them of due support from the management.
“Despite challenges we face, we would still see how best we can deepen the partnership. I want to assure you that we are always available, if you have a mix-up need for clarification, let us know, it’s our primary duty to offer needed information’’, she averred.
