Mrs. Anohu-Amazu
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Chuks Udo Okonta
Worried by the low adoption and implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has appealed to states and local governments to immediately comply to avail their employees of the numerous benefits of the scheme.
The Director-General PenCom Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who made the appeal in Kaduna, said the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014 gives additional impetus for participation in the CPS by explicitly prescribing the coverage of States and Local Government employees, in addition to the Federal Public service and private sector.
She noted that the scorecard for the North-West Zone is somewhat encouraging, as three States in the Zone, including Kaduna, have commenced implementation of the CPS.
“However, there are some implementation milestones that should be attained by respective States. I would therefore like to fervently appeal to all the States and Local Governments in the North-West Zone that are yet to adopt or implement the CPS to immediately comply in order to avail their employees of the numerous benefits of the Scheme, while avoiding huge future pension liabilities,” she said.
She posited that the need for more efficiency in managing finances has never been greater than now, given the lean available public resources. She noted that the adoption of CPS by States is one effective tool of managing finances by paying monthly pension contributions into employees’ RSAs as opposed to settling these huge liabilities at the point of retirement, being the case in the Defined Benefit Scheme.
In our quest to assist the States in guided implementation, PenCom has established functional offices in the six geo-political zones including Kano for the North-West Zone.
“These offices have been equipped to provide the required technical assistance to States and Local Governments in their efforts to adopt and implement the CPS,” she added.
The PenCom boss said the Commission recently made a presentation to the National Economic Council (NEC) where it highlighted the numerous benefits that States would be availed under the CPS, stressing that based on the feedback at the presentation, the Commission would also enhance its technical support to the States for speedy compliance.
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