The National Pension Commission (PenCom) on Tuesday said that Nigeria’s Micro Pension Scheme would begin in the first quarter of next year.
Giving this hint at the sixth conference organised for pension directors by the commission in Lagos, the Director-General, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, said that the take off the scheme as earlier planned was delayed due to hitches encountered in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform intended to drive it.
She promised that the hitches would be sorted out latest by the end of September for the scheme to kick off fully in the first quarter of 2019.
Dahir-Umar pointed out that the commission believed that the scheme would be part of the efforts toward ensuring the attainment of the objectives in the long term and sustainability of the Federal Government’s social empowerment programme.
According to her, the guidelines for the scheme have been approved by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Speaking on some of the challenges the commission was facing in the implementation of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the PenCom’s boss said that there was growing agitations by pension contributors to redirect their retirement savings.
She explained that the clamour led to the redirection of the N8.5 trillion pension assets toward the resolution of other social problems such as health, unemployment and other similar challenges.
Dahir-Umar recalled that 2017 was particularly difficult for the industry as the commission had to contend with several bills intended to distort or dismantle the CPS before the National Assembly
She said: “Our social partners played a critical role in that struggle, which we successfully surmounted. However, one of the important lessons learnt from that experience is the imperative of continuous stakeholders’ collaboration and engagement.
“The commission, therefore, believes that directors of operator companies must appreciate the critical importance of stakeholders’ collaboration and the need to give it the attention it deserves”, she added
Dahir-Umar explained that this year’s conference was the sixth in the series of such conferences introduced by the commission to constantly update members of the Boards of Directors of pension operator companies on topical issues in the industry.
She pointed out further that the conference was meant to sharpen operators’ capacity as the commission believes such will enhance the performance of the operators and protect the N8.5 trillion pension assets.
The PenCom boss told participants that the pension reform had been impactful since the beginning of its implementation in 2004 with its positive impacts visible in the economic and social spheres.
