A total of 524, 206 employees
joined the contributory pension scheme in Nigeria during the year 2013 as the
number of employees who registered with the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs)
increased from 5,393,001 on January 1, 2013 to 5,917,207 on December 31, 2013,
the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has informed.
This represents a significant
improvement over the total number of employees who joined the scheme during the
two preceding years since about 350, 000 employees joined the nation’s pension
scheme in 2012, while about 286, 000 employees joined the scheme in 2011.
The current number of
contributors to the nine year old pension scheme which is 5.91 million still
fell short of expectation given the population of the country in excess of 160
million and the number of people engaged in active service at present.
According to PenCom, the number
of employees who have registered with the PFAs was 839,254 in June 2006.
The Pension Act establishes a
contributory pension scheme for payment of retirement benefits of employees in
the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory and in the
Private Sector where there are five or more employees in employment in an
organisation. The Act became effective from
June 25, 2004.
The objectives of the scheme are
to ensure that every person who worked in either the Public Service of the
Federation, Federal Capital Territory or Private Sector receives his retirement
benefits as and when due.
It is also designed to assist
improvident individuals by ensuring that they save in order to cater for their
livelihood during old age, while also establishing a uniform set of rules,
regulations and standards for the administration and payments of retirement
benefits for the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory
and the Private Sector.
The administration of pension in
the country has been enhanced with the passage of the Pension Act which has not
only provided a platform for a more effective, efficient and transparent
administration of pensions in the Federal Public Service and the private
sector, but also generated a pool of long term investible funds that already
had positive impact on the growth of the nation’s economy.
The pool of pension funds and
assets generated by the contributory pension scheme has aided the deepening of
the financial sector and provided a platform for attaining the transformation
agenda of Government in the provision of infrastructure, energy, employment
generation and the development of the real sector of the economy.
Source: Daily Independent
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