Ahmad Urges FG to Constitute PenCom Board

Ebere Nwoji

The pioneer Director General of the National Pension Commission Commission (PenCom), Muhammad Ahmad, has called on the federal government to constitute a governing board for the Commission.

He lamented that lack of board for the Commission makes execution of its regulatory roles difficult.

Ahmad, who stated this in an interview with THISDAY, at the just concluded National Insurance Conference in Abuja, said government should set up a board for the commission just as it did for the Security and Exchange Commission(SEC) .

“PenCom, as a regulator needs a board. When a regulator has a board, regulation becomes easy, rule making becomes easier, supervision and compliance become much easier. The government should give PenCom a board as soon as possible just as it did for SEC. We need a board and when you have a board, it provides the direction,” he said.

Also, Mr. Issa Aremu, of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said the non-constitution of the board of PenCom was completely unacceptable and smears danger for a reviving economy.

President Muhammad’s Buhari, had in April 13th, 2017 dissolved the governing board of PenCom. Since the dissolution, PenCom has been operating under a management and administrative system led by an Acting Director General, Mrs Aisha Dahiru-Umar .

Section 25 (1) of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014, recognises the importance of the board of the government agency as it states that the Commission’s board shall formulate and provide general policy guidelines for the discharge of the functions of the Commission, monitor and ensure the implementation of the policies and programmes and shall also carry out such other functions as are necessary or expedient to ensure the efficient performance of the functions of the Commission.”

Section two of the Act further reads: “The board shall have power to approve rules and regulations relating to the appointment, promotion and disciplinary measures for the employees of the Commission and fix remuneration, allowances and benefits of the Commission.

“It shall also regulate its proceedings and make standing orders with respect to the holding of its meetings, notices to be given, the keeping of minutes of its proceedings and such other matters as the board may, from time to time determine.”

But reliable sources at the Commission told THISDAY that though the law establishing PenCom gave it some level of freedom which some similar government agencies do not have, adding that the lack of a functional board was obviously not accelerating activities in the Commission as it limits the amount of funds that can be approved for the agency.

This has continued to attract condemnation from organisations such as the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA).

According to NECA, the federal government’s failure to constitute boards for some of its agencies including PenCom, posed some risks for the sensitive agency to be left without a board while managing over N9 trillion accumulated assets.

This has prompted stake holders in Pension sector to continuously demand for immediate constitution of the board for the commission