Over 38,518 moved RSA to another PFA

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Over 38,518 workers moved from one Pension Fund Administrators, PFAs to anotherr PFAs and transferred N148.11bn in their Retirement Savings Accounts within one year.

The National Pension Commission revealed this in a report titled ‘Quarterly summary of Retirement Savings Accounts transferred by Pension Fund Administrators’.

PenCom according to the report said 12,681 workers transferred N47.78bn in the first quarter of 2021, compared to 2,799 workers who transferred N18.90bn in the same period of 2020.

The Commission stated thst 12,872 workers transferred N45.56bn in Q3 2021, up from 10,166 workers who transferred N35.89bn in Q2 2021.

According to PenCom, Section 13 of the Pension Reform Act 2014 empowers an RSA holder to transfer their RSA to any PFA of choice, not more than once a year.

“Effective transfer of RSAs from one PFA to another requires an accurate and reliable database as it is important to ensure that the pension assets transferred belong to the bona-fide RSA holders initiating the transfers,” it said.

PenCom noted that the opening of the RSA transfer window was delayed to ensure that robust IT infrastructure that would drive the process was put in place.

It said the process was finalised in June 2019 with the deployment of an enhanced contributor registration system for the pension industry.

The pension regulator said the ECRS incorporated extensive validations, controls and data requirements that would deliver high data integrity standards for the pension industry.

It said the upgrade of RSA holders’ details to meet the ECRS standards was, therefore, a prerequisite for RSA transfers.

Those who registered with various PFAs from inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme to June 2019 were required to get recaptured, it added.

Lanre Idris is Leadway Pensure MD

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Foremost pension fund administrator in Nigeria, Leadway Pensure PFA Limited, has announced the appointment of Lanre Idris as its new Managing Director, heralding a new era in the company’s history.

This appointment follows the recent retirement of Ronke Adedeji, the erstwhile Managing Director, who steered the ship of the organisation for over a decade.

Foremost pension fund administrator in Nigeria, Leadway Pensure PFA Limited, has announced the appointment of Lanre Idris as its new Managing Director, heralding a new era in the company’s history.

This appointment follows the recent retirement of Ronke Adedeji, the erstwhile Managing Director, who steered the ship of the organisation for over a decade.

Ethiopian Airlines to resume using Boeing 737 MAX planes in February

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

Ethiopian Airlines plans to resume flying Boeing 737 MAX planes on its fleet in February 2022, saying it was satisfied with their safety, according to its chief executive.

In 2019, Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, a Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX bound for Kenya, crashed six minutes after takeoff from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, killing all 157 passengers and crew.

“Safety is our topmost priority …. and it guides every decision we make and all actions we take,” Tewolde Gebremariam said in a statement.

“We have taken enough time to monitor the design modification work and the more than 20 months of rigorous rectification process…our pilots, engineers, aircraft technicians, cabin crew are confident on the safety of the fleet.”

The best-selling, single-aisle airplane, which was grounded worldwide after two crashes killed 346 people in the space of five months, returned to service in late 2020

FG clears N16.67bn accrued pension rights for 2021 retirees

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Federal Government has released N16.67 billion for the payment of accrued pension rights to 2021 retirees of Treasury-funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

This was disclosed by the management of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in a statement issued Wednesday in Abuja

“The National Pension Commission (PenCom) is pleased to announce the release of N16.67 billion by the Federal Government for the payment of Accrued Pension Rights to 2021 retirees of Treasury-funded Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

“The Federal Government had earlier settled all arrears of accrued pension rights payments to the verified and enrolled retirees up to December 2020”, said the National Pension Commission.

Also, the PenCom had received early this year the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to pay outstanding pension liabilities of retirees of Treasury-funded Federal Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

This was sequel to PenCom’s submission to the President on the payment of some critical aspects of the outstanding pension liabilities of the Federal Government under the Contributory Pension Scheme.

Specifically, the President approved payment of outstanding accrued pension rights for verified and enrolled retirees of treasury-funded MDAs that retired but were yet to be paid their retirement benefits, as well as the backlog of death benefits claims due to beneficiaries of deceased employees of treasury funded MDAs.

Approval was also given for payment of 2.5 per cent differential in the rate of employer pension contribution for FGN retirees and employees which resulted from the increase in the minimum pension contribution for employers from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent in line with Section 4(1) of the PRA 2014.