By Favour Nnabugwu
Public sector employers in federal, state and local governments contributed N492.43 billion as pension in 2021 as shown in the National Pension Commission (PenCom) 2021 annual report
The figure represented an 8.29 per cent decline (year-on-year) when compared with the N536.97 billion recorded in 2020.
The Director-General of PenCom, Aisha Dahiru-Umar, admitted in the report that COVID-19 restrictions slowed down operations of the commission in the year under review.
PenCom said despite that, it paid N326.32 billion as retirement benefits.
The payments comprised retirement benefits and a 25 per cent payout due to temporary loss of job.
The commission noted that pension contributions credited into the Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) of public sector employees from inception grew from N3.43 billion on December 31, 2020, to N3.93 billion by December 31, 2021.
It added that the cumulative pension contribution received from the private sector from inception to December 31, 2021 rose from N3.27 billion recorded in 2020 to N3.66 billion.
The pension contribution credited into the RSAs of private sector employees also increased slightly by 4.61 per cent from N371.12 billion in 2020 to N388.23 billion by December, 31, 2021.
Total pension contributions remitted into the RSAs of employees, however, dropped to N880.66 billion at the end of 2021, representing a 3 per cent decline compared to the N908.09 billion recorded during the corresponding period in 2020.
“The total pension contributions remitted into the RSAs of employees in both the public and private sectors in 2021 decreased slightly from N908.09 billion recorded in 2020 to N880.66 billion as of December, 31, 2021.
“This indicated a 3.02 per cent decline over the reporting period,” the report stated
