Accountant General opposes lower PenCom DG bar

He made his position known in a memo presented to the Joint National Assembly committee on Pension, Establishment and Public Service Matters which held a public hearing on the pension bill in June.Otunla argued that placing the management of huge funds under the purview of PenCom in the hands of an inexperienced person will spell […]

He made his position known in a memo presented to the Joint National Assembly committee on Pension, Establishment and Public Service Matters which held a public hearing on the pension bill in June.
Otunla argued that placing the management of huge funds under the purview of PenCom in the hands of an inexperienced person will spell doom for the industry.
Although the Accountant General made the submission in June, a draft report prepared by the committee’s secretariat a month later seen by Daily Trust was silent on the opposition he expressed to the qualification reduction.
Otunla’s submission said, “The person to be appointed to the post of Director General of the Commission should posses at least twenty (20) years of cognate experience on pension matters. Since the quantum of funds managed by the Commission is now in trillions the position of the Director General requires a person with adequate experience, expertise and professionalism beyond the fifteen (15) years being proposed.”
Similarly, the Accountant General expressed opposition to reduction of the qualification requirement for PenCom commissioners from 20 to 15 years of experience.
He, however, supported the increase in contributory pension scheme from 7.5 to 12 percent for employers and 7.5 to 8 percent for employees saying it will enhance employee retirement benefits and standard of living.
Daily Trust exclusively reported in May that the Pension Reform Act contains a clause that seeks to lower the bar in order to pave way for the pension commission’s acting director general Chinelo Anohu-Amazu to be confirmed as substantive chief executive.
Speaking to Daily Trust yesterday, a member of the committee Rep. Mustapha Bala Dawaki (PDP, Kano) said he would continue to oppose the proposal.
He said: “I am rejecting [The report] 100 percent and I won’t accept it, I am sure that the section won’t scale through.”
Meanwhile, in the  draft bill presented to the National Assembly by President Goodluck Jonathan, the federal government had sought to remove the powers of the Senate to confirm the appointments of PenCom’s director general and commissioners.