All Posts in "Pension"

The highest paid in PenCom earns less than N1m- PenCom

By Favour Nnabugwu

National Pension Commission has debunked the misinformation on social media making rounds about staff earning N3 million salary, said that the highest paid official of the Commission earns less than ₦1 million a month.
PenCom in a Statement release yesterday, following the need to correct such misleading publicity, stated that It is not logical and improbable that the least paid will earn a monthly salary of ₦3 million.
Without any doubt, PenCom said that there is an element of mischief and possible blackmail on the Commission’s compensation package.
“From our understanding, it appears someone calculated all staff costs, including training, staff exit benefit scheme, and employer’s pension contribution, and divided the total by the number of the Commission’s employees and concluded that the least paid employee is on a monthly salary of ₦3 million”
PenCom explained further, “There   is a clear difference between staff cost and staff salaries.   It is imperative to point out that right from the inception of the Commission in 2004, the Federal Government mandated the Board to adopt an employee compensation policy that favorably compares to comparator government bodies in the financial services sector, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
It said that PenCom duly followed the law, Section  25(2)(b) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 also empowers the Board of the Commission to fix the remuneration, allowances and benefits of the employees”
“More  so, the Presidential Committee on the Consolidation of Emoluments in the Public Sector headed by the late Chief Ernest Shonekan, former Head of the Interim National Government, made a number of recommendations which guide the PenCom Board in its compensation review exercises”.
“One  of the recommendations is that the pay structure of self-funded agencies should be benchmarked with their private sector comparators so as to ensure relativity in such agencies and attract and retain high-caliber professionals”
“The  Shonekan Committee, which was set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2005, also recommended that the pay structure of regulatory agencies should be benchmarked against sectors they monitor to avoid regulatory capture, and that an annual increase in pay should be undertaken to account for inflation/cost of living adjustment and establishments may strive to attain 50th percentile and above their comparators in the private sector”
“We  made all these facts known in a recently submission to the House of Representatives Committee on Finance over the compensation package of the Commission. We also stated that the last compensation package review was done in 2017 with the approval of the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF)”

“No review has been done in the last five years and this has affected the ability of the Commission to attract, hire and retain staff with competitive skills.The public is, therefore, implored to ignore the false and mischievous information on the staff compensation package. The Commission has nothing to hide and will continue to run a transparent and accountable system.Signed”

Patoma Admin by — September 17, 2022 in Pension 0
PENCOM assures pensioners of payment a week after retirement

By Favour Nnabugwu
 
The National Pension Commission of Nigeria, PENCOM assured the Senate that federal pensioners will get their pension a week after retirement
Speaking during her submission to  Senator Olamilekan Adeola, APC, Lagos West led Senate Committee on Finance currently interfacing with government agencies on proposals for the 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Frame Work ( MTEF ) and Fiscal Strategy Paper ( FSP), Director- General of PENCOM, Aisha Dahiru-Umar told the Senate that the N14.5trillion pension fund is not idle due to right investments made of them.
According to her,  “The  backlog of  accrued rights component  of  pension payments to Pensioners causing delay in payment over the years , is almost cleared by the Federal Government, adding that within the last seventeen years , the federal government has been paying N49 billion per month to offset the accrued rights backlog of pensioners.
“We recognise the importance of this agency to all Nigerians especially our retired civil servants who have served this country meritoriously and as the custodian of their contributory pension scheme (CPS)”.
Aisha Dahiru Umar said, “Late payment of pension to pensioners will be a thing of the past very soon as required steps in that direction , have been taken by the federal government whose retirees are affected.”
The PENCOM boss who advised pensioners to carry out required documentation a year to their retirement in fast tracking the whole process, however told the committee that the N14.5trillion available pension fund is not idle as N9 .5trillion out of it , is invested in Federal government security , N1.23trillion in Equity shares while 35% of the fund is invested in money market .
At the end of the day, the Committee said that the yearly repeated N102million overhead subvention given the agency by the federal government will be removed aside the N26 billion yearly inserted into the Commission budget  without cash backing.
Patoma Admin by — September 15, 2022 in Pension 0
Engr. Cyril Ajagu is chairman of 2022 NAIPCO Conference

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The 7th edition of the National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) conference will have Eng. Cyril Ajagu, a major investor in the financial services industry as the Chairman of the occasion and the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Dr. Mrs. Chinyere Almona as Speaker 

The Conference with the theme: “On-boarding Small and Medium Scale Enterprises into Micro Insurance and Pension Space in Nigeria will hold at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos on November 3, 2022

The event will feature the unveiling of NAIPCO New Name and Logo to stakeholders in both sectors of the economy

Speaking on the conference, Chairperson of NAIPCO, Mrs Nkechi Naeche-Esezobor, noted that the theme of the conference is apt as the SMEs sector has been the main driver and engine of growth of the Nigerian economy, and being the sector with the highest employers of labour, needs all the support to enable it continue to contribute significantly to the economy.

“Incidentally, the larger population of operators and employees in this space are left unattended to, with a lot of them not benefiting at all from the nation’s financial inclusion project, and this therefore underscores why the micro-insurance and micro-pensions players should see this group as a growth asset,” Nkechi added.

According to her, “Experts, stakeholders and the general public will converge on the conference to proffer solutions on the way forward”.

Patoma Admin by — September 13, 2022 in Insurance 0
Access Pension Custody transfers business to First Pension Custodian, returns operating license to PenCom

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has announced that it had given it’s approval for the transfer of business of Access Pension Custodian Limited to First Pension Custodian Limited and operating license returned to the Commission

Access Holdings Plc has announced that its subsidiary, Access Bank Plc has completed the divestment of its entire equity interest in Access Pension Fund Custodian Limited to First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

PenCom in a Statement released to Journalists on Monday said that Access Pension Custodian divested from pension custody business and transferred all assets under it’s custody to First Pension Custodian

The acquisition, according to to PenCom, is the culmination of the divestment process by Access Pension Custodian Limited from the pension custody business, transfer of all assets under its custody to First Pension Custodian Limited and the return of its operating license to PenCom

PenCom said that there is no cause for alarm as it has ensures that everything was done accord g to the rules and regulations of the pension industry.

“The Commission assures Stakeholders and the general public of its continued commitment to the effective regulation and supervision of the pension industry”

Patoma Admin by — September 12, 2022 in Pension 0
Director-General’s absence from National Assembly not intended – PenCom

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

 

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has explained the reason why its Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, could not go the the National Assembly to attend to the House of Representatives committee on Finance, said she had to attend to some pressing assignments.

The Commission further said the it was not intended to malign the House particularly as PenCom was to defend the Commission’s 2021/2022 Budget and present the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP).

The Commission noted that the clarification was necessary because at the hearing, the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Finance, Hon Saidu Abdullahi, frowned at the absence of the Commission’s Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar.

“It is pertinent to note that the DG’s absence was because she was out of town attending an official engagement. However, the Commissioner of Finance, the Director and Head of Accounts and the Deputy Director and Head of Financial Planning represented her, which is the usual practice whenever the DG is unavailable,” it stated.

PenCom noted that the Director-General takes invitations from the National Assembly seriously and ensures that she attends personally except when the exigencies of her office make it impossible, in which case the relevant Commissioner and Management staff of the Commission represent her.

PenCom submitted that it notes with satisfaction the observation by the House Committee on the quality and comprehensiveness of the reports submitted to it by the Commission.

Patoma Admin by — September 10, 2022 in Pension 0
Simplifies process on retirement, terminal benefits

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

National Pension Commission (PenCom) has simplified the process on retirement and terminal benefits for immediate implementation.

The Commission had comprehensive review of the regulation since its initial issuance in the year 2007.

The regulation guides the process of accessing retirement and terminal benefits by pension contributors and retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

In line with its consultative approach, PenCom obtained input from key stakeholders in order to ensure a more efficient retirement benefit administration.

The commission disclosed the new development on it’s verified twitter handle.
The revised regulation contains several new provisions on pension enhancement, voluntary contributions, temporary access to RSA due to loss of job, payment under the Micro Pension plan, administrative sanctions for violations by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs), amongst others

The new regulation introduces salient amendments to several existing provisions while providing more clarity on others.

While the old regulation outlined the documents required for retirees to access benefits, the revised regulation has simplified the documentation process.

The new regulation mandated PFAs to make efforts to ensure that all documentation preparatory to the retirement of the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holder be provided and concluded within a period of four months prior to the date of retirement.

In order to ensure that prospective retirees are duly educated on the modes of accessing their benefits, PFAs have also been mandated to advise prospective retirees to check their websites and be acquainted with the CPS retirement pack containing features of Programmed Withdrawal (PW) and Retiree Life Annuity (RLA) at least three months to date of retirement.

The pack also contains other salient issues that would guide the retirees towards a smooth retirement process.

Patoma Admin by — September 7, 2022 in Pension 0
Naicom, PenCom, NIA, PenOps, others for NAIPCO confab Nov 3.

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Insurance Commission  (NAICOM) and the National Pension Commission ( PenCom) and other stakeholders in the insurance and pension sectors have endorsed the upcoming 2022 annual conference of National Association of Insurance and Pension Correspondents (NAIPCO) coming up on November 3, 2022

The two agencies will lead other professionals to the conference to discuss burning issues in the insurance and pension sectors.

The event which is bid to hold at Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos will also be graced by experts and stakeholders from the insurance and pension sectors as well as the financial services sector such as Lagos State Pension Commission, LASPEC and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises of Nigeria, SMEDAN and others.

Others include the Nigerian Insurers Association, NIA; the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, CIIN; the Nigeria Council of Registered Insurance Brokers, NCRIB; Professional Ladies Association of Nigeria, PILA; Institute of Loss Adjusted of Nigeria, ILAN; Pension Fund Operators Associations of Nigeria, PenOps; Association of Registered Insurance Agents of Nigeria, ARIAN and College of Insurance and Finance Management, CIFM

The Conference which is the seventh edition in the series, has the theme: “On-boarding Small and Medium Scale Enterprises into Micro Insurance and Pension Space in Nigeria.”

The keynote Speaker is the Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (LCCI), Dr. Mrs. Chinyere Almona, while Eng. Cyril Ajagu, a major investor in the financial services industry as well as oil and gas will chair the epoch event.

The Commissioner for Insurance/CEO, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Mr. Sunday Thomas, and Director-General, National Pension Commission (PenCom), Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, will be Special Guests.

The Chairman, Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Segun Omosehin; Chairman, Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp),  Olumide Oyetan; among others; have confirmed their presence at the event.

Others expected are: Nigeria Union of Pensioners; Trade Union Congress; People Living with Disabilities; Barbers, Hairdressers, Market Men and Women, Vulcanizers, etc.

The event will also feature the unveiling of NAIPCO New Name and Logo to stakeholders in both sectors of the economy.

Speaking on the conference, Chairperson of NAIPCO, Mrs Nkechi Naeche-Esezobor noted that the theme of the conference is apt as the SMEs sector has been the main driver and engine of growth of the Nigerian economy, and being the sector with the highest employers of labour needs all the support to enable it continue to contribute significantly to the economy.

Incidentally, the larger population of operators and employees in this space are left unattended to, with a lot of them not benefiting at all from the nation’s financial inclusion project, and this therefore underscores why the micro-insurance and micro-pensions players should see this group as a growth asset.

Patoma Admin by — September 5, 2022 in Insurance 0
PenCom confirms Police still in CPS, says Military, Judiciary exempted

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

National Pension Commission, PenCom has confirmed that the Police is still in the Contributory Pension Scheme, CPS of the federal government.

PenCom affirmed the need to state that the Police has not left the scheme despite effort to pull out

The Commission said only the Military and the Judiciary are exempted.

Head, Benefit and Insurance, Mr. Obiora Ibezeago said that the Police was so big that it would not be in the best interest of the country to let policemen out of the pension loop.

“It is only the Military and the Judiciary that have been exempted. The Police has not been expected”.

The police wanted to be excluded from the CPS just like their counterparts in other security agencies such as the military.

In Section 5 (1) (a) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 to enable the Federal Government to take full responsibility for the payment of gratuities and pensions of all police retirees and remove the burden of contributing part of their salaries for their retirement benefit from serving police officers.

Regulators and managers of the scheme warned that allowing the police to exit the scheme would not only deplete the accumulated pension assets now in excess of N14.27 trillion as of June 2022 but also destroy a system that is already working and enhancing economic and infrastructural development of the country.

Obizeago noted that the current pension administration.has been designed to ensure better quality of life in retirement and therefore urged members of the public to take advantage of it.

On the other hand, the Head of Micro Pension Department, Mr. Dauda Ahmed, said that MPP was a veritable tool against poverty at old age, which he observed has been the worst challenge of people employed in the informal sector.

In his paper, “The Micro Pension Plan: Bringing Financial Security at Old Age to the Doorsteps of the Informal Sector,”

“MPP is the solution to old age poverty. This is a pension plan in which contributions are so flexible that they are done at one’s pace so that those engaged in the informal sector can have something to fall back on when they are old.

“MPP is voluntary and will improve the standards of living of the elderly, as it provides a regular stream of income of benefits at old age.”

” Pencom recognized that the income of those employed in the informal sector was irregular and that as such the MPP has been designed in a simplified way such that its contributions also had a leeway to make contributions when they have income, he said.

MPP, he explained, has been structured into two with 60 percent of the contributions going into the retirement benefit and the 40 percent going into a contingency account.

He further said that the 40 percent contingency segment could be drawn down at will, within two days of request, once the contributor had maintained the account for at least three months.

He added that based on the extent provisions of the Pension Reform Act, it was not possible to convert an account of a formal sector contributor to an informal one but that the provision could be reviewed in favour of those who would be interested in migrating to the informal sector accounts

Patoma Admin by — August 27, 2022 in Pension 0
Missing employees: PenCom investigates after report from employers …Beneficiary, not Next of Kin is paid

By Favour Nnabugwu
National Pension Commission, PenCom, says it does not waste time in investigating when an employer report to the Commission of a missing employee before directing the PFA to processing the benefits.
A person is presumed dead if not found in one year from the date of disappearance
Only the beneficiary (not necessarily the Next of Kin) shall be entitled to all the benefits of a deceased employee or Retiree.
Head, Benefits & Insurance, Mr Obiora Ibezeago at one workshop organised for Pension Journalists in Abuja, wen an employee is declared missing, the employer must repeat to PenCom first and the Commission will swing into action to investigate but after it clocks a year and the person is still.not found, then it is assumed the person is dead.
Ibezeago, said at this time, PenCom will direct the Pension Fund Administrators to go ahead with the process of paying the beneficiary who in most cases may not be the next of kin.
The beneficiary is the person(s) mentioned in a Will admitted to probate or person(s) who obtained Letter of Administration from High Court to administer the estate of a person who dies without a Will.
“In another case, where an employee is declared missing and if is not found within a period of one year from the date he was declared missing, a board of inquiry is set up by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), which concludes that it is reasonable to presume that he has died, and in this case, the provisions of this section shall apply”
Nigeria Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) introduced by the Pension Reform Act 2004 and revised in 2014 recognises the importance of the contributor, his contribution and what happens to him while in employment. This is both alive and in death.
With this realisation that there is life and there is also death, the CPS has taken care of the contributor, directly or indirectly, should either of the two happen as long as the person has made his contribution through his employer.
Section 8 (1) of the Pension Reform Act 2014 states that where an employee dies, his entitlements under the life insurance policy maintained under section 4(5) of this Act shall be paid by an underwriter to the named beneficiary in line with section 57 of the insurance Act.
Subsection 2 states that, upon receipt of a valid will admitted to probate or a Letter of Administration, confirming the beneficiaries under the estate of the deceased employee, the Pension Fund Administrator(PFA) shall, with the approval of the Commission, release the amount standing in the retirement savings account of the decease to the personal representative of the deceased or to any other person as may be directed by a court of competent jurisdiction, in accordance with the terms of the will or the personal law of the deceased employee, as the case may be.
While this law is there to enhance the welfare of the contributor, there are a number of challenges which beneficiaries would have to contend with if there was no prior effort to address them before death occurs. This is the issue of having not a will or dying interstate.
One of the challenges, which families of the deceased pension contributor faces after the death of their loved one is the process of claiming his pension entitlements, making it important that a pension contributor should procure a ‘Will’ for management of his or her estate should the unexpected happen.
Ibezeago said that PFAs request for Next of Kin which is more like contact person in case of an urgency which may often times not be a beneficiary
When a person has dies,according to him, it is the Next of Kin that is contacted to inform the family and if a deceased has a Will already, it make the process easier but where there is no Will, the family will get a Letter of Administration from the High Court which will clearly state the beneficiary
More often than not, Next of Kin does not mean a beneficiary. It must be clearly stated where the Next of Kin happens to be the beneficiary as well.
Patoma Admin by — August 26, 2022 in Pension 0
Foreigners make Voluntary Contribution, withdraw all at expiration of contract, stay – PenCom

By Favour Nnabugwu
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has foreigner are participating Voluntary contributors and they allowed to withdrawal fund at expiration of their contract in the country.
Foreigners in the PenCom refers to Non-Nigerian citizens residing and working in
Nigeria
PenCom at one-day workshop for Pension Journalists in Abuja said there are a number of foreigners who participate in the VC.
Giving a paper on ‘The Administration of Retirement Benefits under the Micro Pension Plan by Head, Benefits & Insurance, Mr Obiora Ibezeago, said foreigners contribute voluntarily Retirement Savings Accounts, RSA until they are set to go back to the country, they then withdraw the contribution wholesome..
On Foreign Contributors, Ibeazego said they shall also be legible to withdraw all the voluntary contributions in the RSA at the expiration of the contract employment or relocation to their country.
Voluntary Contributions are extra funds you can opt to add to your mandatory pension contributions, or simply set aside as retirement savings”
“VC  differs from other regular savings you may have, as it is deducted from your salary before tax. This is a significant advantage of the VC, as the contributions have tax incentives and could lower your overall tax liability.”
Non-obligatory contributions made by all eligible contributors through their employers while Additional Voluntary
Contributions (AVC) Non-obligatory contributions made by workers
and retirees under the CPS through the
employer towards enhancing their pension.
Patoma Admin by — August 26, 2022 in Pension 0