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Chuks Udo Okonta
Between January and February, 2018, 390,000 workers from the public and private sectors of the economy joined the new Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the National Pension Commission (PenCom), has said.
The Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said this today In her opening remarks at the workshop organised by the Commission for Journalists in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, adding that with the period the country’s Pension Fund gained N270 billion, increasing from N7.52 trillion to N7.779 trillion.
She noted that the commission is intensifying efforts at ensuring that the provision of necessary infrastructure for the launching of the Micro Pension Scheme in line with its strategic objective of expanding coverage of the CPS to the underserved sector.
“This is a major kernel of the strategy for expanding coverage of the contributory pension scheme. The guidelines for the Micro Pension Scheme are being finalised preparatory to the commencement of the scheme,” she stressed.
Dahir-Umar, who was represented by Company’s Secretary/Legal Adviser, PenCom, Mohammad Sanni Mohammad, added that, the commission has initiated the Pension Enhancement Programme to enhance the monthly pension of retirees in the Contributory Pension Scheme.
She noted that it was discovered that the returns being generated by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) on the balances of the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of majority of retirees could be used to enhance their monthly pensions, she said, PenCom sought for and obtained the approval of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to implement the pension enhancement.
This, she pointed out, resulted in increased monthly pensions for most retirees receiving pension under the Programmed Withdrawal arrangement, even as, the PFAs have commenced the enhancement of pensions of all retirees under Programmed Withdrawal with effect from December 2017.
