TheCable

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says employers should encourage their workers to transfer contributions of the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to their retirement savings accounts (RSAs).

Aisha Dahir-Umar, director-general of PenCom, spoke in Lagos, during an interactive session organised by the commission and the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA).

The gathering focused on the contributory pension scheme (CPS) for the organised private sector (OPS).

Dahir-Umar, represented by Anyim Nyerere, commissioner for technical, PenCom, said N10.2 billion has been transferred into the RSAs of 142,486 NSITF scheme contributors from 2014 to date.

This, she said, was in compliance with the commission’s responsibility of supervising the transfer, following the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.

“The commission was saddled with the responsibility of supervising the transfer of the NSITF contributions of employees into their respective RSAs under the CPS,” Dahir-Umar said.

“In order to ensure that all contributors under the NSITF scheme have their NSITF contributions transferred to their RSAs, the commission had severally featured advertorials requesting NSITF contributors to apply for the transfer of their contributions.

“To date, contributions worth N10.20 billion have been transferred to the RSAs of 142,486 NSITF scheme contributors.

“The commission wishes to implore all employers to encourage their employees who have contributed to the NSITF scheme to liaise with their PFAs, and in particular, trust fund pensions for guidance on how to have their contributions transferred to their RSAs.”

Speaking on efforts to provide adequate services, Dahir-Umar said the commission has consistently urged RSA holders to approach their PFAs for data recapture.

She said PenCom has developed the RSA transfer system (RTS) to improve the seamless transfer of RSAs from one PFA to another.

The director-general said the system is a computer-based application for initiating, processing, and monitoring the RSA transfer procedures.

“The opening of the RSA transfer window has continued to improve the quality of service delivery by the PFAs,” Dahir-Umar added.

Dahir-Umar assured the private sector that the commission would continue to ensure robust social dialogue with NECA in the interest of all stakeholders under the CPS.

She also said the commission will always support NECA to champion programmes that will ensure the successful implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.

On his part, Adewale Smatt-Oyerinde, director-general of NECA, applauded the pension regulator for its effort in providing reforms to improve its services.

Smatt-Oyerinde, however, said the deliberation would give room for more improvement and development in the pension sector.

“There is always room for improvement and this is one of the areas of development,” he said.

The NECA boss also highlighted challenges linked to non-compliance to the CPS as management ignorance, employees’ short-sightedness, liquidity challenges, pension fund attractiveness and the organised informal sector.