N689.15bn accrued right paid to FG retirees in 11yrs - PenCom
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has cumulatively paid N689.15 billion as pension accrued right to federal government retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in the last 11 years.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, the Acting Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), Hajia Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the payments were made from July, 2007 to date.
Hajia Dahir-Umar said a minimum of 5 per cent of the Federal Government’s total wage bill is the statutory amount set aside for the settlement of accrued pension rights of employees entitled to pension rights.
“This category of pension benefits relates only to FGN treasury funded employees that worked prior to 30 June, 2004. The pension right is recognition of the entitlement for FGN treasury funded workers, who had worked before the enactment of the Pension Reform Act in June, 2004,” she said. The PenCom boss said a Retirement Benefits Bond Redemption Fund (RBBRF) Account is domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria by the Federal Government to facilitate payment of Accrued Pension Right entitlements.
She said that from January, 2018 to date, a total of N39.28 billion was released by the federal government, which was used to pay some outstanding Accrued Pension Right. “Although there are outstanding payments, the Commission is confident that the Federal Government would release the funds soon,” she said.
The Acting DG went further to explain that the number of participants in the CPS has grown over the years, from its commencement of registration in February 2006 to the third quarter of 2018, as the number of contributors stood at 8.27 million.
She said the number of contributors from the private sector is 4.69 million (being 56.72 per cent) while the Public sector has a total number of 3.58 million contributors.
She also said that the value of pension fund assets under management has grown from N265 billion in 2006, which was the year of actual commencement of investment activities by the pension operators, to N8.33 trillion as at the end of August, 2018.
She said the Commission has been strategizing to expand the scope of the participation in the CPS to increase both the number of participants and pension contributions.
She said that the Micro Pension Plan, which will be launched soon, would serve the purpose of the desired expansion in the CPS.