‘Increase enrolment of retirees in contributory pension scheme’

The  Interim Chairman of the Management Committee of the First Guarantee Pensions Limited  and General Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Comrade Issa Aremu  has called on the new management of the National Pension Commission to increase the enrollment figure under the contributory pension scheme. He made this call […]

The  Interim Chairman of the Management Committee of the First Guarantee Pensions Limited  and General Secretary of National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Comrade Issa Aremu  has called on the new management of the National Pension Commission to increase the enrollment figure under the contributory pension scheme.

He made this call  at a news conference in Abuja.

Aremu noted that the current enrolment of less than seven million subscribers in the National Pension Commission is inadequate compared to the over 80 million  workers.

He  said: “The over six million workers already captured under the reform are commendable. But this number is a far cry from over 80 million potential work force in Nigeria.

“The N6.5 trillion  funds contributed so far can hardly meet the future income adequacy of retirees, which underscores the need for an intensified effort on the part of the incoming leadership.”

He stressed the need for all retirees under the scheme to be  paid their benefits as at  when due.

Aremu said under the previous management, pension assets grew N2.9 trillion in 2012 to over N6.5 trillion in 2017, due to  the efforts of the past leadership of the National Pension Commission.

Aremu recalled that the National Pension Commission set up the management with the mandate to superintend over the affairs of the PFA under the direct supervision of the commission after the former management was dissolve “for unsound corporate governance practices which have significant adverse implication for the pension assets under the management of the PFA.”