By Adedapo Adesanya
The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that pension assets increased to N16.76 trillion within the half-year period (six months) that ended in June 2023.
Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar, the Director-General of PenCom, said this in Kano at the National Pension Commission/Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Interactive Session on the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for the Organised Private Sector (OPS) this week.
Represented by the Commissioner Administration, PenCom, Mr Faruk Aminu, the PenCom boss said that the figure was the total fund accruing from pension contributions in the country under the CPS as of the end of the third quarter of 2023.
She explained that the pension industry is one of the fastest-growing financial sectors in Nigeria.
According to her, at the end of the third quarter of 2023, the number of Retirement Savings Accounts (RSAs) under the CPS stood at 10 million and the size of the pension asset under management amounted to N16.76 trillion.
“The commission has continued to take giant strides towards ensuring the smooth implementation of the CPS through the revision of existing regulations and guidelines and the development of new ones,” the official said.
The PenCom DG urged employers to encourage their workers to transfer contributions from the Nigerian Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) to their retirement savings accounts (RSAs).
This, she said, is in compliance with the commission’s responsibility of supervising the transfer, following the enactment of the Pension Reform Act (PRA) 2014.
“The commission is saddled with the responsibility of supervising the transfer of the NSITF contributions of employees into their respective RSAs under the CPS,” the PenCom official said.
She further assured the private sector that the commission would continue to ensure robust social dialogue with NECA in the interest of all stakeholders under the CPS.
She also said the commission would always support NECA to champion programmes that would ensure the successful implementation of the CPS in Nigeria.
Modupe Gbadeyanka