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Chuks Udo Okonta
Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) have been tasked by federal lawmakers to intensify efforts in extending Micro Pension Plan (MPP) to politicians as most of them are excluded in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Establishment and Public Service Sen. Fasuyi Oluwole, gave the admonition at an event recently organised by the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), stressing that integrating politicians in the micro pension plan would enable them plan for retirement.
He also decried the slow uptake of the plan by informer sector workers and called on pension operators to intensify awareness and marketing stating that the plan remains one of the best means for the workers to plan for retirement and avert old age poverty.
According to him, pension operators must move from their comfort zones to reach these people who are working hard one a daily basis, but may not be saving for the future.
He said politicians would be happy to join the micro pension plan as they are not catered for by the CPS.
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) in its fourth quarter 2023 report,
a total number of 8,927 Micro Pension Contributors (MPC) were registered in the fourth quarter by 17 pension fund administrators bringing
the total number registered MPCs from inception to 114,382 as at December,
2023.
PenCom said Access Pension Limited accounted for 68.88 per cent of the new micro pension plan registration with a total of 6,149
out of the 8,927 registered participants, while Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers
Limited followed with 1,531 accounting for 17.15 per cent of the total registrations in the
quarter.
The pension industry regulator submitted that
the total registration from inception to date shows that ARM Pension Managers
(PFA) Limited, Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited and Tangerine APT
Pensions Limited registered the largest number of Micro Pension Contributors
(MPCs) with 24,177 (21.14 per cent), 23,521 (20.56 per cent) and 8,039 (7.03 per cent) respectively,
as at 31 December 2023.
It maintained that
the total pension contributions received from MPCs in Q4:2023 was
₦150,832,272.1, stating that this brought the total pension contributions made by the MPCs
to ₦680,155,708.14 as at 31 December 2023.
According to PenCom a breakdown of the pension contributions received in Q4 2023 showed that
Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited and ARM Pension Managers (PFA)
Limited had the highest MPP contributions collected within the period with
N108,499,342.29 (71.93 per cent) and N24,434,550.33 (16.20 per cent) respectively.
It noted that
out of the total pension contributions received from inception, Stanbic IBTC
Pension Managers Limited, ARM Pension Managers (PFA) Limited and Fidelity
Pension Managers Limited accounted for the largest amount with
N347,532,434.77, N103,124,403.80 and N50,628,505.78 representing 51.10 per cent;
15.16 per cent and 7.44 per cent respectively as at 31 December, 2023.
On contingent withdrawals for Q2 2023, PenCom said
Seven PFAs processed and approved MPP contingent withdrawals for
22 MPCs amounting to N4,865,603.98 in Q4:2023.
PenCom also identified PFAs that faired poorly in getting micro pension contributors in the quarter and they Crusader sterling Limited 106; Guaranty Trust Company eight; Pension Alliance Limited six, Radix Pension Managers Limited five amongst others.
