From Damian Duruiheoma, Enugu
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has urged artisans, traders, and other self-employed people to enrol in the Micro Pension Plan of the commission to guarantee a functional retirement plan they can hold-on to.
The Head, Corporate Communications of PenCom, Abdulqadir Dahiru, who made the call in Enugu at the ongoing 34th Enugu International Trade Fair, emphasized the importance of the Micro Pension Plan to Nigerians in the informal sector and those working in organizations with less than three employees.
Dahiru noted that about 90 per cent of workers in Nigeria are in the informal sector, adding that this category of workers have no pension protection for old age and with the increase in people living long, “there is a risk of old age poverty.”
According to him, the Micro Pension Plan platform provides workers in this sector the opportunity to easily register and contribute in a flexible manner and in a safe and secure environment for their pension at retirement.
“The Micro Pension Plan is a flexible plan, where the artisans, traders and even a woman that sells fried beans cake (akara), can register with and agree a periodic amount she/he would be contributing according to her/his earnings.
“The contributors, within this flexible Micro Pension Plan for all Nigerians in the informal sector, can even draw out 40 percent of what they have saved for emergency demand; while the remaining 60 percent would remain and await the retirement plan proper.
“So, it is a means of savings also for those in the informal sector and where they could fall back to and get financial assistance to keep their daily engagements going,” he said.
He noted that PenCom was desirous to ensure Nigerians in the informal sector enroll and register in the plan, adding that it had started sensitisation of the plan to communities, market places, public gatherings, associations and trade fair grounds across the country.
Dahiru also urged Nigerians to embrace PenCom acquisition of residential mortgages (residential houses) scheme for Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders.
He recalled that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had approved no less than 34 mortgage banks to work with the PenCom and Pension Fund Operators in providing mortgage financing to Contributors into the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) with their RSA balance.
The PenCom spokesman said that the commission was determined to implement the scheme for the contributors to ensure that RSA holders have houses of their own at retirement.