Olowosuko
By Nike Popoola
The Director-General, Ondo State Pension Commission, Mr. Jaiyeola Olowosuko, has urged operators of the Contributory Pension Scheme to include free health care in the package for its subscribers when they retire.
Olowosuko said this during the Nigerian insurance and pension awards with the theme: ‘Robust pension key to better life after work’, in Lagos on Friday.
“The Pension Fund Administrators and insurance companies can improve the lifespan of the retirees by providing free health insurance scheme for them because they are the ones managing their pension funds,” he said.
According to him, the law provides group life insurance for workers but there is no law that provides free health care for retirees.
The director also worried that the problem of poor funding of the pension scheme, visible in the defined benefits scheme, was also affecting the CPS.
A former board member of the National Pension Commission, Mr. Ivor Takor, urged the government to increase the monthly pension remittance from the current15 per cent of the workers’ total emolument to 18 per cent as stipulated in the Pension Reform Act 2014.
He said that it was important for the state governments to pay the salaries of their workers regularly because if it was not consistent, it would not be possible for them to remit the workers’ contributions to the pension fund.
The Chief Executive Officer, Inspenonline Media, Mr. Chuks Okonta, said the theme of this year’s award was important because it was relevant for the pension scheme to give workers comfortable retirement.
During the award, FBN Insurance Limited emerged as the insurance company of the year; Stanbic IBTC emerged as the PFA of the year; the Association of Registered Insurance Agents was named the best professional group; and Plum Insurance Brokers emerged as the insurance broker of the year; Lagos State Pension Commission got the excellence award.
Group Managing Director, FBN Insurance Limited Mr. Val Ojumah, emerged as the man of the Year; Sovereign Trust Insurance emerged as the Corporate brand of the year; while both Consolidated Hallmark Insurance and Royal Exchange Insurance emerged as the corporate social responsible companies of the year.
Punch
