Questions over new PenCom DG’s appointment

There is a groundswell of concern that the appointment of Ms. Omolola Bridget Oloworaran as new Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) violates provisions of the extant law establishing the commission. However, an insider in the commission, who spoke to Daily Trust in confidence, said that the new DG is not limited by the […]

There is a groundswell of concern that the appointment of Ms. Omolola Bridget Oloworaran as new Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) violates provisions of the extant law establishing the commission.

However, an insider in the commission, who spoke to Daily Trust in confidence, said that the new DG is not limited by the relevant laws cited.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the weekend, approved the appointment of Ms. Oloworaran to replace Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar as chief executive officer of the Commission.

A press statement issued by Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Saturday, described the nominee as “finance and banking expert with many years of experience”.

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The statement said: “While the appointment is subject to the confirmation of the Nigerian Senate, the presidency anticipates a goal-oriented leadership to drive efficiency and superlative performance in the National Pension Commission as the prime regulator of the Nigerian Pension Industry.”

However, some legal experts observed that the nominee does not possess the minimum requirement of 15 years cognate experience in the pension arm of the financial sector.

A lawyer, Egobuokolobia Umukoro, told the Daily Trust that the relevant law establishing pension administration in Nigeria has shown that the new appointee is not qualified, as such the president should look for a replacement.

“The law states that the person appointed by the president to be the director general of the National Pension Commission must have the statutory 15 years cognate experience in pension.

“So, if the president appoints someone that does not meet the requirement, it is ultra vires as it is against the requirement of the law, and particularly if the person is to be appointed substantive DG.

“The appointee is not qualified in the eyes of the law, so I expect the president to start looking for another person who is qualified,” he said.

Also reacting, Malachy Nwaekpe, Esq said the fact that she has 20 years or more of experience elsewhere is not relevant because that is not the specific experience required under the Pension Act.

Nwaekpe said a general requirement in law is different from a specific requirement as provided in this particular case.

“If there is a specific experience under the Pension Act, even if she has 100 years’ experience in banking and not pensions, she is, therefore, not qualified under the law,” he said.

He added that by the provisions of the Pensions Act, her experience in banking management is expressly excluded in the requirements for the pension’s role.

What the law says

Our reporter did a review of the Pension Reforms Act (PRA) 2014, and found that Section 26 of the Act addresses the issue of qualification of the person to oversee the commission.

The Act states that: “There shall be for the commission, a Director-General who shall be appointed by the president subject to confirmation by the Senate.

(2) The Director-General shall-

(a) be the chief executive and accounting officer of the Commission;

(b) be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Commission;

(c) keep the books and records of the Commission, and

“(d) possess relevant and adequate professional qualification in pension matters with 15 years cognate experience.”

Our review of the career trajectory of President Tinubu’s nominee shows that it is in contrast to the provisions of the Pension Reforms Act.

‘No cause for alarm’

However, an insider from PenCom affirmed that the DG cannot be said to be unqualified as the PRA 2014 only stipulates 15 years cognate experience in pension matters and not in the pension industry.

“If you look at section 26 (d) of the PRA 2014, it states that the PenCom DG shall have 15 years cognate experience in pension matters and not pension industry. Therefore, if the law had stated ‘pension industry’ and not ‘pension matters’, then it would have been more exclusive.

“The new appointee before her announcement works with an organization that has staff who are RSA holders; therefore she may in one way or the other had superintended over pension matters in her organization without necessarily working in a pension related establishment. As such, if the law had exclusively stated that one must have experience in the pension industry, then it would have been a different case. Therefore, in my opinion, she is qualified to be in that position,”

Also speaking to Daily Trust on the issue, a pension expert, Sani Mustapha said the appointee is qualified owing to the fact that the pension sector is also under the financial services sector

“I understand that the new PenCom DG has worked in the financial services sector almost all her life. She was with the First Bank before her last appointment. What people are not looking at is the fact that pension is also under the financial services sector and it is possible that as a management staff of First Bank, she has had something to do with pension affairs in the organisation.

“In my opinion, the appointment by the President is the right step and all what the appointee needs to do is to consolidate on the impressive performance of the former DG who has moved pension funds from N13 trillion to N20 trillion,” he said.

He also said that for the fact that the president only appointed the DG, and from a different geopolitical region, there is the likelihood of rejigging the establishment, in addition to filling an existing vacancy in line with provisions of the law.

Her professional career  

Daily Trust conducted a simple search on Ms. Oloworaran LinkedIn profile and discovered that her career cuts across different companies including Renaissance Capital, FDHL Group, Stanbic IBTC and First Bank, where she was working before her new appointment.

The review showed that she played a pivotal role at First Bank Nigeria Plc, where she headed the Transaction Banking Operations since June 2019.

She had worked in Treasury Operations in Citigroup from 2004 to March 2008, and was subsequently at Renaissance Capital where she served in various capacities, including Finance Manager and Senior Specialist, from March 2008 to April 2013. Between November 2013 and January 2016, she served as Head of Global Market Operations.

At FDHL Group, the nominee to DG of PenCom served as a Consultant from May 2013 to November 2013, offering “strategic insights and solutions”.

Before moving to First Bank, Ms Oloworaran worked at Stanbic IBTC from January 2016 to June 2019, where she led the institution’s international banking operations.

Her profile on First Bank suggests that she was a Deputy General Manager, Group Head, First Shared Services before the appointment by the president to head the pension commission.

Replacement of Dahir-Umar flawed

Another concern observed was that President Tinubu only announced the appointment and replacement of a new DG for PenCom without dissolving the entire management of four national commissioners.

Going by the Act establishing the organisation, the president, having removed Aisha Dahir-Umar who has yet to complete her five-year tenure, was expected to name a replacement from the same region she comes from.

The only time he is at liberty to appoint from any other region is when he has dissolved the entire board and management of the commission.

It would be recalled that the immediate past DG was confirmed on October 20, 2020 by the Senate for a five-year term, which is expected to end in October, 2025.

Her removal on Saturday clearly entails that she was one year and three months away from completing her tenure

Section 21 (2) of PRA 2014 says: “In the event of a vacancy, the President shall appoint a replacement from the geo-political zone of the immediate past member who vacated the office to complete the remaining tenure”.

The immediate past DG, Dahir-Umar is from Adamawa State in the North East geopolitical zone of the country.

Section 106 (4) of the Act, states that: “Where a Board of the Commission is yet to be reconstituted after six months of the dissolution of the last board, the president may appoint fit and proper persons with pension cognate experience to constitute the board at the first instance, subject to confirmation by the Senate.”

Presidency mum

There was no response from the presidential spokesman, Mr. Ngelale, who issued the statement, over the concerns raised about the appointment of Ms. Oloworaran, when efforts were made to reach him on Monday.

How controversy trailed previous appointment of DGs

Daily Trust reports that the same controversy had rocked the appointment of Aisha Dahir-Umar, who replaced the then sacked DG, Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, in 2017.

Anohu-Amazu, who was appointed in October 2014 by then President Goodluck Jonathan, was supposed to have a five-year- term running until October 2019, but she was sacked in April 2017 by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Buhari subsequently presented Aliyu Abdulrahman Dikko for senate confirmation.

However, his nomination sparked protest as Dikko was the former chairman of the Board of Premium Pension which negates the Pension Reform Act (PRA). The PRA provides that nobody, who has a controlling interest in a PFA or PFC, or any licensed institution either before or after his appointment, be appointed to the Board of PenCom.

It was on this premise that Dikko’s appointment was reviewed and Aisha Dahir-Umar was appointed as DG.