By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has approved the proposal by the Pension Operators’ Association of Nigeria (PenOp) for an industry Shared Service Initiative (SSI), to accelerate data recapture exercise (DRE) of all registered Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders, under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
DRE involves recapturing the personal data of all registered RSA holders, who must provide their National Identification Numbers (NIN) to their Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs), in line with the federal government’s directive that every Nigerian must have a NIN.
PenCom had directed PFAs to embark on the recapturing exercise, following the slow adoption of the Enhanced Contributor Registration System (ECRS) application, a platform deployed by the commission to build a credible database of contributors under the CPS.
Speaking on this in an interview with a national daily, the Acting Director-General, PenCom, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, said the inability of some RSA holders to provide the NIN among other challenges had affected the speedy conduct of the DRE by PFAs.
She said the SSI involves engaging some vendors to conduct the DRE on behalf of PFAs, noting that the arrangement would enhance efficiency in carrying out the exercise, as it would enable a vendor to recapture all RSA holders in the same organisation.
According to her, the initiative would help to overcome the challenges posed by the process of obtaining NIN.
She maintained that the major criteria for selecting the vendors were their registration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and ability to carry out NIN registrations on its behalf.
She noted, “Due to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of remote recapturing through a self-service option is being considered, as the vendors must have integrated such capabilities in their system.
“The SSI, which is expected to commence soon, will resolve some of the lingering challenges that militate against the DRE. The Commission remains committed to providing necessary support to the pension industry to ensure the success of the DRE.”
She emphasized on the need for States Pension Bureaux (SPB) to establish a Standing Reconciliation Committee (SRC) to resolve the issue of non-credited contributions to state employees’ RSAs after remittances have been made.
Mrs Dahir-Umar also disclosed that of the states under the CPS, only the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Delta, and Osun states have established SRC.
She said that remaining five – Kebbi, Rivers, Anambra and Ogun states were yet to fully establish SRC.
She noted that the role of the committee was to liaise with the PFAs to review all un-credited remittances held by each PFA, by identifying employees with invalid or duplicate pins, saying the Committee subsequently provided information to PFAs, to ensure that RSAs of affected employees are credited.
Dipo Olowookere