The National Pension Commission (PenCom) says N10.2 billion have been transferred into the Retirement Savings Account (RSAs) of 142,486 Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) Scheme contributors from 2014 to date.

Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, Director-General, PenCom, revealed this at an interactive session, organised by PenCom and Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) on CPS for the Organised Private Sector (OPS) in Lagos.

Dahir-Umar, represented by Dr Anyim Nyerere, Commissioner for Technical, PenCom, said this was in compliance with the commission’s responsibility of supervising the transfer, following the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.

“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.

“PenCom wishes to implore all employers to encourage their employees, who have contributed to the NSITF scheme, to liaise with their PFAs and in particular Trustfund Pensions for guidance on how to have their contributions transferred to their RSAs,” she said.

According to her, the number of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) as at the end of third quarter 2023, stood at 10 million.

Dahir-Umar said that the size of the pension Asset Under Management(AUM) amounted to N16.76 trillion in the period under review.

She noted that, accordingly, the contributions of the OPS in this regard could not be overemphasised.

According to her, the interactive session was organised to unfold new developments and tackle challenges facing the pension scheme in the country.

The director-general said that the programme was initiated to enlighten OPS on the current developments and challenges in the implementation of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.

“Obviously the pension industry is one of the fastest-growing financial sectors in Nigeria.

“This programme was put in place to enlighten the organised private sector on the new developments and resolve some of the challenges facing the sector.

“The objective of the interactive session is to enlighten the OPS on the workings of the CPS and share thoughts on emerging developments in the Nigerian pension space,” she said

Dahir-Umar said that the commission had continued to take giant strides towards ensuring the smooth implementation of the CPS through the revision of existing regulations, guidelines and the development of new ones.

She said that PenCom had deployed the Enhanced Contributors Registration System (ECRS) and Data Recapture Exercise (DRE).

The director-general stated that this mandatorily requires all RSA holders, who joined the CPS prior to July 1, 2019, to update their information with their respective Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

She charged RSA holders who are yet to approach their PFAs for data recapture to do so.

She assured the OPS that the commission would continue to ensure robust social dialogue with NECA in the interest of all stakeholders under the CPS.

According to her, the commission will always support NECA to champion programmes that will ensure the successful implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.

Commenting, Mr Bala Babangida, Head, Department of Compliance and Enforcement, PenCom, said that compliance in the industry includes opening of RSA with a PFA by employees.

Babangide added that employers must also ensure monthly deduction and remittance of pension contributions

and provision of Group Life insurance policy for their employees

Mr Obiora Ibeziako, Head, Department of Benefit and Investment, PenCom, listed the basic objectives of pension investments to include safety liquidity and fair return.

Ibeziako added that the general principles of the pension scheme involved consultation, prudent, effective surveillance and regulatory.

In his remark, Director-General, NECA, Mr Adewale Oyerinde, said that the deliberation would give rooms for more improvement and development in the pension sector.

“There is always a room for improvement and this is one of the area of development.

“I am sure that this interactive session would pave way to improving further the pension scheme,” Oyerinde said.