‘Why PenCom appointments were reviewed’

The Federal Government may have decided to review appointments into the Board of the National Pension Commission (PenCom) in order to avoid court action and address the concerns raised by some individuals on the appointments, Daily Trust gathered.

The Federal Government had previously appointed Aliyu AbdulRahman Dikko as the Director General of the PenCom and Funso Doherty as the Chairman of the Commission.

However, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo reviewed the appointments over the weekend, making Funso the Director General of the Commission while Dikko was given a new appointment as the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Bank of Industry (BoI).

On what might have informed the review, the former Director General of the Commission, Muhammad Ahmad, told Daily Trust that the Federal Government may have acted following petitions and a court action against the appointment of Dikko, the former Chairman of the Board of Premium Pension.

“There was a petition, specifically against Dikko and the petition brought out two things. The Pension Reform Act provides that nobody, who has a controlling interest in a PFA or PFC or any licensed institution either before or after his appointment be appointed to the Board of PenCom. Controlling interest, by kind of definition, means 51 per cent. One of the grounds of petition was that Dikko had controlling interest in Premium Pension. So, he is not qualified to be appointed a director on the board of PenCom,” Ahmed said.

He explained that Doherty, the newly appointed DG pension was a former MD of ARM Pension, but was not a shareholder in the company.

“The second argument was that Dikko was from the North West and by the provision of the Act, in the event of any of the six members of the board is removed, he should be replaced by someone from the same zone. So the argument was that the former DG PenCom was from the South East, and therefore the DG must come from the South East,” he said.

Ahmed said the provision was referring to seasonal vacancy and not when a whole Board is dissolved like the current situation in PenCom, a development that led to the appointment of Doherty as the DG of the commission despite his being from the South West.

“I am suspecting, and I am only speculating, that perhaps in their judgement, they felt instead of going through this rigmarole of going to court and trying to sort out this and that, why not replace Alliu Dikko. I do not think there is any political reason,” he said.

Meanwhile, a source close to Dikko told the Daily Trust that he was not consulted before his appointment was changed from PenCom to BOI.