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Chuks Udo Okonta
Registration of informal sector workers into the Micro Pension Plan (MPL) by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) is progressing effectively, the former Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) and Managing Director, AIICO Pension Limited, Eguarekhide Longe, has said.
He told Inspenonline that the process of registering the workers has been smooth and progressive, adding that the operators are capturing the data of workers pending when the full registration commences, when they would be issued their Pensional Identification Numbers (PINs)
President Muhammadu Buhari, had on March 28, 2019 launched the micro pension plan for self-employed Nigerians, which is expected to attract over N3 trillion to the pension assets.
Buhari at the launch of the programme supervised the registration of the first subscriber to the plan, a Keke NAPEP operator, Sagir Shawai, a resident of Karu village of the Federal Capital Territory.
The president said the programme was conceived for Nigerians in the informal sector of the country.
He appealed to trade associations, workers unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the informal sector to join hands with the government in enlightening their members on the importance of the scheme.
“This initiative will capture those that are not fully captured in the existing pension scheme.
In the past three years, we have provided loans to farmers and others in the informal sector. The micro pension plan is the next step,” he posited.
Inspenonline gathered that the National Pension Commission (PenCom) since the launch, had intensified efforts in encouraging informal sector workers who are before now left out the nation’s pension, to embrace the plan and should reach out to PFAs of their choice to register.
