The Federal Government has released N13.89 billion for the payment of accrued rights for Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) to those who retired last year, the Director-General (DG), National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, has said.
In a statement yesterday, the DG stated that the money is for retirees of Treasury-Funded Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
She also stated that the accrued pension rights represent an employee’s benefits for the years of service up to June 2004, when the CPS came into effect.
Accordingly, she said PenCom is processing remittances into the various Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of the affected retirees, and their Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) would notify them in due course.
Mrs. Dahir-Umar appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari for his support and commitment to the implementation of the CPS and ensuring the welfare of retirees.
Sequel to this, the Federal Government had paid N980 billion arrears to MDAs’ retirees from the inception of the CPS in 2004 to December 2021.
The DG, in a report on pension industry 2021, said: “In addition, the Federal Government continued to fund the Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund account. With the release of N100.29billion for the payment of accrued rights to retirees of treasury funded MDAs, this brought the total amount released by the Federal Government into the RBBRF account, from inception to December 31, 2021, to N980.18billion.
“PenCom obtained presidential approval for N159.46billion to defray some aspects of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government under the CPS. Consequently, N40.55 billion being the outstanding accrued rights of 6,282 retirees and 2,329 deceased employees, was paid during the year.
“A total of N66.83 billion was remitted into the Retirement Savings Accounts of 85,743 retirees and 693,229 active employees, being the 2.5 per cent shortfall in the rate of employer pension contributions as of December 2021″.
The balance of N52.08billion was processed in the 2022 financial year, she noted.
“The industry remained focused on the resolution of the challenges of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government under the CPS, expansion of coverage of the CPS to the informal sector and the sub-national governments and the diversification of pension fund investment.
“Other focus areas included the drive to improve the quality of customer service delivery, enhancement of operational capacity of the regulator/operators’ workforce and the re-invigoration of the commission’s public enlightenment and education initiatives.”
She said the industry remained focused on the resolution of the challenges of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government under the CPS, expansion of coverage of the CPS to the informal sector, the sub-national governments and the diversification of pension fund investment.