The Nation Newspaper

Category: Pension

  • Fed Govt budgets N50b for retirees

    Fed Govt budgets N50b for retirees

    The Federal Government has  budgeted N50 billion for  retirees for this year.

    This is N41billion short of the N91billion requested from the Federal Government by the National Pension Commission (PenCom)

    The Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, who spoke to reporters in Lagos, said the outstanding accrued rights yet to be paid by the Federal Government to pensioner stands at N20billion and the figure might rise to N61 billion, if the N41 billion outstanding accrued pension rights for this year is added.

    According to her, if the N50billion requested is funded by the government, there will still be a deficit, noting that N91billion was needed to pay every retiree that will retire this year going by the Commission’s figures.

    She said the problem only affect Federal Government employees, while those in the private sector do not have such issues because they are already funded.

    She, however, noted that the government is making efforts to clear all outstanding pension.

    She attributed the growth in pension deficit to the financial crisis ravaging the country.

    According to her, the funds are not available due to competing demands  for the available resources.

    She, however, assured that the outstanding payment will soon be effected.

  • Electricity pensioners seek Buhari’s, NASS intervention

    Electricity pensioners seek Buhari’s, NASS intervention

    The Nigeria Union of Pensioners (Electricity Sector) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to deploy the change mantra of his administration to ameliorate its members’travails.

    Its President, Comrade Temple Ubani who, spoke at a briefing in Lagos, appealed to the Chairman, Joint Committee on Appropriations of the National Assembly (NASS), Senator Danjuma Goje to assist the union.

    Ubani said the issues  affecting his members ranged from the discriminatory and wrong classification of the PHCN pension under capital supplementation, irregular funding of their pension, persistent delays in the release of funds and payment of their monthly pensions, failure to pay arrears of pensions and other retirement benefits, denial of the 33 per cent pension increase, among others.

    He appealed to President Buhari to urgently intervene by prevailing on the joint committee on appropriation of NASS to ensure that his members pension fund is taken out of capital supplementation to Service Wide Vote, which is the recurrent expenditure in the budget as practised all over the world.

    He said the pension payment be removed from Authority to Incure Expenditure (AIE) which delay their pension payment and put on the Government Integreated Finacial Management Information System (GIFMIS)  Platform as is the case with all other pensioners in the country.

    He  added: “The relevant authorities should ensure regular and prompt payment of their pensions as at when other pensioners are being paid so as to alleviate their sufferings.

    “President Buhari should intervene to see that all outstanding pensioner/next of kin entitlements are provided for in the budget and paid.

    “The National Salaries Income and Wages Commission should be directed to with immediate effect, implement 33 per cent pension increase to our members as it affects other pensioners in the country.”

    He also appealed to other relevant authorities, including Minister of Finance, Minister of Budget and National Planning; Minister of Labour and Productivity; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation; Accountant-General of the Federation; Auditor-General of the Federation; Director-General Budget Office of the Federation; Director-General/Executive Secretary, PTAD; Director-General/Chief Executive, NELMCO; and Chairman, National Salaries Incomes and Wages Commission to help them.

  • PTAD strategises for better service

    The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) is re-strategising and setting a new agenda for improving and sustaining excellent service delivery to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS), its Director-General and Executive Secretary, Mrs. Nellie Mayshak has said.

    In a statement, Mrs Mayshak expressed delight at the progress the agency has made, adding that it is a model agency of government, working diligently towards making Nigeria’s pension system credible, transparent and comparable to international standards.

    She said the agency held a three- day strategy planning session in Abuja to set the direction for the agency’s medium to long term objectives.

    According to her, over the last two years of its existence, PTAD had focused on consolidating the payment of pension to Police, Customs, Immigration and Prisons, Civil Service and Parastatals Pensions which it inherited from legacy schemes and has been cleaning up the payrolls of these groups.

    The clean-up of these payrolls, she said, had seen PTAD embark on  on-going verification, which has enabled the agency to identify unqualified pensioners, areas of over-payment and underpayment and the update of records of next of kin (NoK) of deceased pensioners.

    She said: “With the sanitisation of the payroll under way, the agency thought it timely to set a new agenda for improving and sustaining the excellent service delivery it has come to be known for to pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).

    “The three-day strategy session, reviewed the agency’s mandate as contained in the 2014 Pension Reform Act (PRA), which created the agency, and reassessed the vison, mission and core values that would guide the operations of the agency in the medium to long term.

    “A follow-up session to validate the decisions reached at the strategy session is scheduled to take place in the coming days and the final outcome will be communicated to all the stakeholders.”

    She urged the workers of the agency to continue to exhibit the PTAD culture of excellence in all they do.

  • NSITF transfers N9.01b contributors’ fund to Trustfund Q2, 2015

    NSITF transfers N9.01b contributors’ fund to Trustfund Q2, 2015

    The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) has transferred N9.01 billion pension contributions to 124,871 members Retirement Savings Account (RSAs) managed by Trustfund Pension Plc as at the Second Quarter of last year.

    This was made known in a report by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) obtained by The Nation.

    According to the report, the Commission has continued the supervision of the transfer of the contributions into beneficiaries’ RSAs during the quarter under review.

    The report read in part: “In this regard, 1,084 applications for the transfer of contributions amounting to N77.5 million were received. The Commission processed and granted ‘‘no objections’’ to Trustfund Pensions Plc to transfer an amount totaling N68.8 million to 995 contributors.

    “On the other hand, 35 applications for N2.5 million were rejected due to incomplete documentations. This brought the total NSITF contributions transferred to Retirement Savings Account to N9.01 billion. The amount was transferred on behalf of 124,871 NSITF contributors.”

    The report also showed that in the period under review, there were transfers from National Provident Fund (NPF) and NSITF contributions to members’ RSAs

    During the first quarter, the Commission received a total of 1,330 applications for the transfer of NSITF contributions amounting to N91.68 million.

    “Following the review of the applications, the Commission granted “no objection” to Trustfund Pensions Plc to pay the sum of N82.14 million to 1,200 contributors. This suggested that 130 applications amounting to N9.54 million were rejected due to incomplete documentations.”

  • CPS: Lagos pays N904m to 243 retirees

    CPS: Lagos pays N904m to 243 retirees

    About  N904 million has been paid to retirees of Lagos State  Civil Service, Local Governments, State Universal Basic Education, Teachers, Establishment and Pension Office and other Parastatals, under the Contributory pension Scheme (CPS) as pension entitlements last month.

    Director-General, Lagos State Pension Commission, Mrs. Folashade Onanuga, who made this known in a statement said the retirees numbering 243 received their bond certificates during the presentation of the 24th Retirement Benefit Bond Certificates held in Lagos.

    According to her, the payment has brought the number of retirees paid between August last year to February, this year, to 2,652 with the total accrued rights paid from the aforementioned month to date standing at N11. 556 bn.

    She urged the retirees to be cautious of unscrupulous elements, who might want to deprive them of their entitlements through lofty business ideas.

    She also appealed to them to be wary of fraudsters, who put calls through to retirees, informing them of alleged short payments in their entitlements.

    The fraudsters, she dsiclosed, request for tokens into specified bank accounts so that a short fall amount can be paid by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in Abuja.

    She reiterated that no retiree in the State Service has accrued rights to collect from the Federal Government and anyone requesting to help them process an entitlement that is non-existent is a scammer.

    She said: “The Office has taken step to sensitise the state’s employees on the activities of the pension fraudsters. Government is presently investigating the reports received from some retirees on the matter.

    “In Lagos State Pension Commission, terminal entitlements are processed strictly on merit based on time and nature of exit. Anyone who offers inducement to any of the Commission’s staff for quick processing of entitlements is just wasting the resources available to him or he.”

  • Defined Benefit: Lagos primary school teachers, others cry out over nonpayment of 10 years gratuity

    Primary school teachers and Local Government pensioners, who retired under the old scheme, the Defined Benefit Scheme in Lagos State, have cried out over unpaid gratuity for 10 years.

    The affected pensioners said many of them have died without being paid their gratuities while some are sick and living in penury.

    Chairman, Nigeria Union of Pensioners (Lagos State Council), Alhaji Nojeemdeen Ibrahim in an interview with The Nation said the money owed to pensioners under the old scheme amounted to billions of naira.

    Alhaji Ibrahim disclosed that the state also owes other pensioners  from parastatals 18 months pension arrears, which arose from 142 per cent pension increase.

    He said while their counterparts, who retired from the civil service, have been paid some pension increase of 142 per cent, retirees from the local government, primary school teachers and parastatals were being ignored.

    The nonpayment of gratuity since 2005, he said, is most disastrous as every pensioner look forward to it as their life savings.

    He, however, said only monthly pension has been regular. He appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to come to their aid as many are dying without been paid their gratuity

    He said: “The issue of nonpayment of gratuity of over 10 years to primary school, local government and parastatal pensioners is very disgraceful. How can somebody, who retired since 2005 not being paid his or her gratuity? Gratuity is a life savings and once you get it, you can plan yourself and be happy in retirement.

    “We held a meeting with Governor Ambode  recently and the Chief of Staff and the Director-General, Lagos State Pension and Establishment agreed that the first monetary action will be the payment of gratuity to all pensioners, but they are yet to be paid. We are appealing to Governor Ambode to forgive them and pay their gratuity.”

  • PenOp: Ghost pensioners impossible under new pension system

    PenOp: Ghost pensioners impossible under new pension system

    The procedure for registration of a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) under the Contributory Pension Scheme has made it difficult for ghost workers to receive pensions, Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), Lounge Eguarekhide, has said.

    He made this known at a briefing in Lagos on allegations that Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) connived with some civil servants and bank officials to generate fake pin numbers for ghost workers culminating into ghost pensioners.

    He described reports that the Director-General of PenCom was summoned, and PFAs are being investigated as salacious gossip.

    He stated that it is impossible for anyone to generate fake pin number because ghosts cannot receive pensions under the new pension system, adding there is a procedure for registration under the scheme, which include in-built checks and balances.

    He noted that there is a central data bank with PenCom that stores the pin numbers and issues them. He said: “There are some facts on the government side which they have confronted the National Pension Commission (PenCom) with. I also heard that there was a bank being investigated. But I cannot respond finitely but I can explain the process which will show you that it is impossible for fake pins to come alive.

    “There is no fake pin and there are no genuine pins. The way it works is that you have an RSA account, you sign a form when you wanted to set up your RSA, send it to your PFA who sends to PenCom. A pin is generated and you thumbprint. You give the pin to your employer and your pension contributions start. That is the process of getting a pin.

    “There is a central data bank in PenCom that stores and issues the pins. What they may think are fake pins are that, in some parts of the country at the beginning of the scheme, there were issues with registration and some people registered a number of people by just filling the forms and send pins to them. These people went to register in other places leading to double registration. So there is that possibility.

    “But whichever way you register yourself on CPS, when you want to exit, you have to present yourself as a living human being and not a ghost. So there are inbuilt checks and balances. There is also the possibility of people who belong to the defined benefit scheme which I think is the case. To say PenCom Director-General was summoned and PFAs are being investigated is a salacious gossip but we have to explain to you the procedure for registration. Ghosts cannot collect pensions because there are inbuilt checks and balances.”

  • PenCom chief recounts journey to pension reform

    The journey to pension reform in 2004 sprang from the realisation of pension deficit of about two trillion naira in the country, the Director-General, National Pension Commission, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, has said.

    She made this known while reliving her sojourn into the pension industry to reporters in Lagos. She expressed joy that the reform has been able to wipe off the deficit accumulating a total of N6.3 trillion pension assets under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    She said: “We started this journey about 13 years ago, when I was working in the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and every enterprise we wanted to sell had a pension deficit.

    “All the investors said it was either we excised the pension deficit or sold the companies for a pittance. So, the then Director-General of BPE, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai decided that we had to find a solution. It was at his insistence that together with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, the pension initiative was born.

    “There had been other efforts. So many people tried and proffered different things and the Fola Adeola Committee’s mandate was to collate all these efforts and synthesise them into one workable solution. We took it to President Obasanjo, and given his own stance, he pushed the reforms through. And that is when we had the 2004 Act that culminated into the setting up of the pension institution and the pension commission as a regulato.”

    Mrs Anohu-Amazu noted that pension and related issues after the reform had received significant attention with the aim of solving the myriad of challenges bedevilling the retirement benefit system in the country.

    She explained that the public sector scheme became unsustainable due to lack of adequate and timely budgetary provisions and increases in salaries and pensions.

    “There were demographic shifts due to rising life expectancies, which was a phenomenon that affected the family support ratio. In addition, pension administration had been largely weak, inefficient, less transparent and cumbersome.

    “The private sector schemes, which were largely akin to the Provident Fund Schemes, had been characterised by very low coverage and compliance ratio due to lack of effective regulation and supervision.  This resulted in complete paradigm shift from the Defined Benefits Schemes as operated by both the public and private sectors to the CPS,”she noted.

  • Guidelines must be met on N5.13t pension fund deployment, says PenCom

    Guidelines must be met on N5.13t pension fund deployment, says PenCom

    For the N5.31 trillion pension fund to be invested in infrastructure and other projects, the terms on investment guidelines must be strictly adhered to, Director-General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu has said.

    She made this known at a media parley in Lagos.

    She noted that all pension funds are invested according to the industry’s investment guidelines noting that the Commission and pension operators would not bend the rules to please anybody.

    She stressed that the industry is willing to invest in infrastructure and other projects.

    She urged those agitating for the deployment of pension funds to understand that the funds are held in trust for workers who definitely get their contributions at retirement, hence all investment are done with the workers in mind.

    She called on investors seeking the funds to tailor their proposals in line with the investment guidelines to enable them access them.

    She said the industry’s investment guidelines specified how the funds are to be invested, stressing that some investors do not get funds from the industry because they fail to meet the requirements in the guidelines.

    She also reiterated that the funds are not idle in any bank account as alleged by those who do not understand the working of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    Anohu-Amazu also spoke on unpaid accrued rights which is preventing some retirees from getting their pension.

    She noted that the Federal Government is yet to pay N20 billion outstanding accrued rights of 2015, stressing that the non-payment is responsible for the delay in paying some retirees.

    She urged the government to prioritize pension so as to sustain the confidence already built in the 12 years existence of the scheme.

    On micro pension, she said the commission was working assiduously to ensure that all necessary requirements are in place for a smooth commencement of the initiative.

    She said: “The commission had already commenced the sensitisation of service providers and relevant regulators as well as the targeted workers in the informal sector with a view of creating the enabling environment and buy-in.

  • PenCom DG gets The Sun Public Service Award

    PenCom DG gets The Sun Public Service Award

    For achieving growth in the pension industry, the Director- General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu has bagged The Sun Award in the Public Service category for 2015.

    The award plaque was presented to her alongside other winners, including the Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Willy Obiano at a ceremony in Lagos at the weekend.

    Presenting the award on behalf of the management of The Sun Newspapers, Tinubu commended Anohu-Amazu for her commitment to ensuring success for the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    Giving reasons for the award, the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Sun Publishing Limited, Mr. Eric Osagie said the Public Service Awards goes to top public servants, who in the spirit of national transformation, have demonstrated an uncommon character, passion, innovation and unalloyed commitment in service delivery and thereby rendering maximum benefit to the country.

    He said Mrs. Anohu-Amazu was chosen as winner of The Sun Public Service Award 2015 after a two-day debate by members of the newspapers’ Board of Editors, saying her emergence was in recognition of her remarkable achievements in ensuring a healthy pension scheme in the country.

    He said: “On assumption of office as DG, Pencom, you have successfully completed the process of a major review of pension reform 2014, which culminated in an executive bill, which has since been passed into law by the National Assembly. Pension fund has also experienced a steady growth under your leadership.”

    Accepting the award, Anohu-Amazu expressed delight for the award saying the honour came most unexpectedly, and it is an honour she cherishes.

    Mrs. Anohu-Amazu holds LL.B. from the University of Nigeria, Enugu. She also holds a Masters in Telecommunication & Information Technology Law from the London School of Economics.