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Chuks Udo Okonta
Many private sector workers having put in their best in serving their employers and the nation retired without pension benefits because their Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) balances were N550,000 or below and considered insufficient to procure a Programmed Withdrawal or Annuity.
According to the National Pension Commission (PenCom) 93,803 private sector workers have since inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) retired without pension benefits.
The pension industry regulator stated that in the fourth quarter of 2018, it granted approval for the payment of the sum of N845.36 million to 3,572 retirees, which comprised of 188 public (FGN and State) and 3,384 private sector retirees.
PenCom noted that 103,016 retirees received en-bloc payments totaling N25.80 billion from inception to the end of the fourth quarter of 2018, adding that these retirees RSA balances were N550,000 or below and considered insufficient to procure a Programmed Withdrawal or Annuity of a reasonable amount over an expected life span.
According to PenCom 93,803 private sector workers have so far retired without pension benefits, while public sector workers were 9,213.
Industry watchers opined that the private sector workers can only enjoy pension benefits when their employers comply with the 18 per cent pension contributions and also pay the new minimum salary structure of N30,000.
They also enjoined workers to embrace the voluntary contribution to enable them enhance their contributions.
