BY Busola Aro
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says pension assets have hit N14.27 trillion and registered contributors 9,795,957 million as of June 2022.
Aisha Dahir-Umar, director-general, PenCom, disclosed this on Thursday at a workshop organised by the commission for journalists in Lagos.
The workshop was themed ‘increasing informal sector participation in the contributory pension scheme (CPS): the case for micro pension plan (MPP).’
Dahir-Umar was represented by Abdulqadir Dahiru, head, corporate communications, PenCom.
She said the increasing number of pension contributors and funds was a result of the recapitalisation of the pension fund administrators (PFAs) by the commission.
“The reason for the recapitalisation exercise was to ramp up the capacity of the PFAs to manage the increasing number of registered contributors and the value of pension fund assets which stood at 9,795,957 million and N14.27 trillion respectively, as of June 30, 2022,” she said.
“PenCom increased the minimum regulatory capital (shareholders’ fund) requirements of PFAs from N1 billion to N5 billion in 2021.
“All PFAs have complied with the commission’s directive to increase their minimum capital during the exercise which had a 12-month transition between April 27, 2021, to April 27, 2022,”
Speaking on the event, Dahir-Umar said the theme of the workshop aligned with the commission’s objective of expanding coverage of the CPS as it relates to the micro pension plan (MPP).
She said the objective was to bring into the CPS, Nigerians working in the informal sector (small-scale businesses, entertainers, petty traders, artisans); and those who were self-employed through the MPP.
According to her, the strategic efforts to drive the MPP remained one of the significant areas of focus for the commission.
“The MPP was implemented to curb old-age poverty by assisting the workers, as mentioned above, to contribute while working and build long-term savings to fall back on when they become old,” Dahir-Umar said.
“Let me re-affirm the commission’s commitment to creating awareness and holding social dialogue on the workings of the CPS with relevant stakeholders towards the smooth implementation of the scheme in Nigeria.”
On his part, Dauda Ahmed, head, micro pension department, PenCom, said the informal sector constituted a large and persistent scale in any economy, especially in Africa.
“Over 80 percent of the working population fell under the informal sector; hence the need to provide a social net such as the MPP to provide a better future and retirement plan for them,” Ahmed said.
He added that the benefits of the MPP include improved standard of living for the elderly, regular stream of benefits at old age, secure financial autonomy, access to other incentives and independence of retirees among others.
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