By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

Ekiti State Government has released N250 million for the payment of outstanding pensions to another set of 86 retirees in the state, the Acting Executive Secretary, Ekiti Pension Transitional Arrangement, Mr Francis Omotoso, has said.

Omotosho, who made this known in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, said the amount is part of the monthly releases by the Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration for the settlement of outstanding retirement benefits for pensioners.

He added that the cash would be used to offset the outstanding balance of pension for May and June.

He said the earlier proposed scheme aimed at further paying the backlog of retirees’gratuities through a negotiated discount process had been jettisoned.

He stressed the government’s commitment to the welfare of the people, particularly the elderly who had served the state meritoriously.

Omotosho noted that the governor had promised to regularly release tranches of N250 million for payment of pensions until outstanding retirement benefits were cleared.

The state Head of Service, Mrs Peju Babafemi, advised the affected pensioners to be prudent with their resources and expend them on veritable ventures that would improve their lives.

Babafemi noted that if the pensioners  planned and managed their ventures well, it would guarantee a stable and comfortable future for them and their families.

The Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners, Ekiti chapter, Mr Joel Akinola, on his part, lauded the government for its efforts at improving the lots of pensioners in the state.

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

Foreigners working in Nigeria can voluntarily participate in the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The Nation found that the foreigners are, however, not mandated by law to participate in the scheme.

Similarly, Nigerians working abroad are not mandated by law to participate in the CPS but may voluntarily do so.

Any one who resigns from an organisation in Nigeria and takes up appointment outside the country, the National Pension Commission says, is entitled to make arrangements with the new employer to continue remitting his pension contributions into his or her RSA in Nigeria.

But if the person chooses to discontinue with the scheme in Nigeria or the new employer has an entirely different pension arrangement, he or she may access his RSA upon retirement or attaining 50, the commission noted.

Meanwhile, employees in the public service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), states, local governments and private sector organisations with three or more employees are mandated to be covered by the CPS by their employers.

Also, employees of organisations with  fewer than three employees as well as self-employed persons can voluntarily take part in the CPS under the Micro Pension Plan (MPP).

Those exempted from the scheme are judicial officers, members of the Armed Forces, the Intelligence and Secret Services of the Federation; retirees under any pension scheme existing before June 30, 2004; and employees who had three or less years to retire as at June 30, 2004.

Exxon Mobil expects to restore its contribution to the United States employee retirement savings plan this year and does not plan another major set of layoffs, Chief Executive Darren Woods told employees in a meeting.

The top U.S. oil producer last year slashed project spending and reduced output as it incurred a historic loss of $22.4 billion. Deep cuts included suspending its match for the 401(k) plan and launching job cuts to reduce its global employee and contractor headcount by about 15 per cent.

He said: “I think one quarter of positive earnings will not mean a successful year, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

“So, we’ve got a little more work to do, but I would just tell you to rest assured that restoring those benefits is an important priority that we are focused on; and when we’re confident we can do that and sustain it, we will. A large layoff is ‘not part of the plan today’,” Woods said.

• Culled from Reuters

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

The new pension Sharia Fund may be launched in the first half of the year, the President, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria, Mr. Wale Odutola, has said.

Odutola told The Nation that work was ongoing on the fund (PenOp), which will be Sharia compliant.

He said the Sharia Fund, which will be Fund  Six under the Multi-Fund structure introduced by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) is coming after Fund Five, the Micro Pension Scheme.

He explained that Multi-Fund structure was designed to match age and risk profile to one of four distinct Retirement Savings Account (RSA) funds.

He said: “These include three RSA Fund types for active contributors and one Retiree Fund for retired contributors. Membership of funds 1 to 3 is restricted to contributors in the formal sector only. The commission also introduced the Micro Pension Scheme fund type.

“The fund is similar to Islamic banking products in the banking industry and Takaful Insurance product in the insurance industry.

“When the fund is launched, it will be a positive development for the pension industry. There are few Muslims that are particular about how they invest and what they invest their monies into and this product woill be very good for them.

He said the investment channels have to be areas that are acceptable with their fate.”

He added that the exposure to variable income instruments under the Multi-Fund structure is the sum of a Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) investments in Ordinary Shares and participation units of Open Close-ended and Hybrid Funds; Real Estate Investment Trust; Infrastructure Funds; and Private Equity Funds comprising its holdings and any future financial commitments to the acquisition of participation units in these Funds.

By Omobola Tolu-Kusimo

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has regretted the non-payment of accrued pension rights of Federal Government employees who retired between March, last year and March, this year under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

The employees are yet to receive their pensions due to the non-payment of their Accrued Pension Rights.

PenCom Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar made this known during the oversight visit of the Senate Committee on Establishment & Public Services to the commission.

Appreciating the role played by this Senate Committee in the past, to move the National Assembly to intervene in the matter of payment of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government, she stated that they were yet to surmount the challenge, because pension liability is a moving target that increases monthly as federal employees retire.

She solicited the Committee’s continuous support to surmount the challenge of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government to its workers and retirees.

She said: “It is, perhaps, appropriate to highlight some of the major challenges of the commission. As you are aware, the fundamental objective of the pension reform is to ensure that every worker receives his retirement benefits as and when due. However, it is sad to report that there are a large number of Federal Government employees who retired from March 2020 to March 2021 under the CPS that are yet to receive their pensions due to non-payment of their Accrued Pension Rights. This challenge, which started in 2014, was essentially triggered by the appropriation of insufficient amounts for payment of Accrued Pension Rights of FGN retirees and further aggravated by late or non-release of full appropriated amounts.

“Other challenges include FGN’s non-compliance with the new minimum statutory rate of pension contribution of 18 per cent since 2014; non-payment of approved 15 per cent and 33 per cent pension increases to pensioners under the CPS; non-payment of shortfall for payment of full retirement benefits of retired Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries; and non-payment of FGN Pension Protection Levy. These have created sad and negative impression on the full realisation of the objectives of the CPS in Nigeria.

“PenCom appreciates the role played by this Senate Committee in the past, to move the National Assembly to intervene in the matter of payment of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government. However, we still have not yet surmounted this challenge, because pension liability is a moving target that increases on monthly basis as FGN employees retire. Thus, like the proverbial Oliver Twist, we would to, once again, solicit the continued support of this distinguished Senate Committee to assist the commission in surmounting this challenge of outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government to its workers and retirees.”

The PenCom chief further said the complaints against certain sections of the Pension Reform Act 2014, which need amendments is another issue before the commission.

“This is normal with every new system and the experience of the CPS in Nigeria is bound to be the same. Consequently, the commission had obtained inputs from critical stakeholders and cataloged their proposed amendments of provisions of the PRA 2014.

“However, as was done in the first review exercise that birthed the present Act, it is imperative to subject the proposed amendments to extensive experts’ and stakeholders’ engagements prior to presentation to the Federal Executive Council and then National Assembly for further legislative action. We are happy to note that the Distinguished Chairman of this Senate Committee has committed to support these processes from the early stage and collaborate with the House Committee on Pensions in order to ensure a smooth and qualitive exercise.”

Speaking on the strides achieved by the commission within the 16 years of pension reform, she said the reform has been able to positively transform the sector.

She said pension fund has been invested towards developing the  economy.

“Our scorecard includes many positive feats, like the licensing of 22 PFAs, seven CPFAs, four PFCs and many Approved Existing Pension Schemes in the private sector. RSA registration has reached 9.27 million as at January 2021 and the value of accumulated pension assets has also reached N12.3 trillion as at January 2021. The fund is invested in varied but quality financial instruments, all tailored towards the development of the Nigerian economy. Furthermore, payment of pensions under the CPS is now seamless, prompt and consistent.

“In the recent years, the commission has introduced the Micro Pension Plan to enable informal sector workers participate in the CPS and also continued to empower the RSA holders by broadening their choices through Multifund Structure of pension fund investment and the opening of the RSA Transfer window. The Commission would continue to innovate in order to consolidate the gains of the pension reform in Nigeria.

“As you are aware, PenCom is a self-funded agency, run basically with Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), with little subvention from the Treasury. The operations of PenCom has been fairly smooth right from inception to date. Our supervisory activities continued to be substantially automated, thus necessitating huge investment in ICT.

“Furthermore, the nature of our regulatory and supervisory responsibilities necessitated substantial investment in our human capital in order to remain effective, competitive and relevant in a continuously changing environment. “PenCom is housed at this Head Office building, which is owned by the commission. There are also six functional zonal offices of the commission at the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, which Senators have visited few days ago,” she added.