PenOp, NASS agree to review lump sum payment to retirees

FOLLOWING THE THIRD ANNU AL RETREAT of the Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp), in Lagos for the joint committee for establishment and public service of the Senate and House of Representatives committees on pension, both parties in a communique have agreed to review the lump sum payable to retirees.

The review became necessary to address issues around contributors’ agitation which, according to PenCom current reform act, stipulates that pension managers pay retirees 25 percent of their total Retirement Savings Account upon retirement.

While both parties resolved that a survey should be commissioned by PenOp, to be handled by a third party, to gauge the level of satisfaction with the scheme, other stakeholders have suggested the National Assembly sets up a task force to engage state governments and come up with innovative ways to help drive compliance by state governments.

Meanwhile, the parties stressed on the need to have huge public enlightenment to drive compliance amongst state governments to expose them to the benefits of the contributory pension scheme.

In addition, they stated that the state governments also needed to be educated on how to leverage pension assets to facilitate infrastructural development whilst also resolving that PFAs take seriously the issues of documentation to ensure pensioners wouldn’t have to go through unnecessary stress to access benefits.

Noting that the industry has continued to grow impressively in the past 17 years, the parties added that there were still many issues that needed to be addressed for the sector to create more value for all stakeholders.

The statement read in part, “Pension assets have grown at an impressive rate since inception, as pension assets stood at 12.4 trillion while the number of contributors stood at 9.4 million as at April 30. The pension industry, in addition to being beneficial to contributors, has played a major role in driving economic growth and development of the country.”

DANGOTE CE MENT PLC, a leading cement manufacturer in sub-Saharan Africa, has continued its forefront operations strategy and its continuing efforts to modernize and enhance the transparency of, and access to, companies’ disclosures, by becoming the first Nigerian listed company to report its financial results in the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format using the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) taxonomy.

Dangote Cement, while making the announcement said the new format will enable its publicly available financial information to be captured accurately and promptly while the implementation of the XBRL demonstrates its strong dedication to reaching international reporting and corporate governance standards.

The XBRL is a language used for the electronic communication of business and financial data. The tool, which is revolutionizing business reporting around the world, provides benefits in the preparation, analysis, and communication of business information with greater efficiency, improved accuracy, and reliability to all those involved in the supply or use of financial data.

Also, it enables companies to standardize the preparation, publishing, and exchange of financial information in a machine-readable format. It is mainly used by publicly listed companies which