The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has restated its commitment to excellent service delivery.

It, however, said the increase in the Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) requirements of Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), from N1 billion to N5 billion, informed their decision to serve the public better.

The Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, told The Nation that the prioritisation of contributors’  welfare was to enable the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders get the best service.

For instance, she said, PFAs are mandated by PenCom to issue RSA statements to contributors and retirees at least once every quarter.

On the other hand, she said, RSA holders are expected to update their details with their PFAs to ensure that they receive their statements regularly.

She said the RSA statement has some minimum information and disclosure requirements mandated by the commission, which included the amount contributed from inception; monthly employer and employee pension contributions; income earned (returns on investment); and the balance.

PFAs may also send their RSA balances via text messages to  the account holders who have the option of checking the performance of his/her RSA online or by visiting the nearest branch of his/her PFA to obtain a hard copy of the RSA statement.

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Where there is a difference between the amount credited into the RSA of an employee, she said, the employee should approach his PFA and employer for reconciliation.

Mrs. Dahir-Umar pointed out that where there is an under payment of the monthly contributions, the employer must remit the difference into the RSA of the employee.

She also noted that the contribution rates are a minimum of 10 per cent by employer and eight per cent by employee.

She said: “Employers are mandated to remit the monthly pension contributions of every worker on their payroll.  For employees whose salaries are not classified into basic, transport and housing allowances, the pension contributions should be based on the gross salary payable. Employers should take note of this and be guided accordingly. Employees should monitor and report erring employers to the Commission for action.

“Regarding the non-remittance for employees of treasury-funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), their remittances are done by the Commission or the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information Systems (IPPIS) Division under the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation. Such employees should write a complaint to their PFA, inform the Pension Desk Officer of their MDAs and provide the  documents. Upon receipt and verification of the documents, remittance of the accumulated contributions would be made into RSAs. Where the employee is working for an FGN MDA that is already on the IPPIS Platform, such complaint should be forwarded to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for verification and remittance of outstanding contributions.

“Finally, PFAs have a primary responsibility of providing efficient customer service to their clients. The RSA holders are, therefore, expected to seek a resolution of issues with their PFAs before escalating to PenCom. Some of these issues include non-remittance of pension contributions, payment of retirement benefits and administration, among others. With the conclusion of recent recapitalisation, stakeholders, particularly RSA holders, should expect increased effectiveness and efficiency as well as improvement in service delivery from PFAs.”

According to her, Section 55 of the PRA 2014 empowers PFAs to open Retirement Savings Account for all employees with Personal Identity Number (PIN) attached; invest and manage pension funds and assets and provide regular information on investment strategies, market returns and other performance indicators to the PenCom and employees or beneficiaries of the RSAs.

“The Act also mandates PFAs to maintain books of account on transactions relating to pension funds managed by them and provide customer service support to employees, including access to employees account balances and statements on demand.

“In addition, PFAs pay retirement benefits to holders of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs), bear responsibility for all calculations in relation to retirement benefits and carry out other functions as may be directed by PenCom from time to time.’’