President Muhammadu Buhari will today launch the micro pension plan at the State House in Abuja, as part of initiatives to bring financial inclusion to all working Nigerians.
The Micro Pension Plan (MPP) is expected to mobilize about N3 trillion savings from the informal sector into the N8.6 trillion pension assets in the country, LEADERSHIP can now reveal.
The plan, which is an initiative of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), is aimed at the provision of pension services to self-employed persons in the informal sector and employees of organizations with less than three staff.
Market observers believe the informal sector constitutes an estimated 69 million workforce in the country and represents an estimated 88 per cent of Nigerian workers that lack pensions and safety nets for their old age.
While PenCom plans to achieve coverage of 30 million people in the informal sector by 2024, it is also expected to have mobilized over N3 trillion from this sector within that timeframe.
A source in the presidency said the formal launch attests to the objective of the current administration at the Federal level to provide ample opportunities for financial inclusion and economic stability for more Nigerians.
This initiative, it was learnt, gives the self-employed Professionals, Entertainers, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, artisans, casual workers, among other, opportunity to save for pension.
However, Head, Corporate Communications, PenCom, Mr. Peter Aghahowa, while reacting to the development, said the launch signifies the commencement of activities that will culminate to the full implementation of the MPP.
He said PenCom and pension operators will continue the education and sensitisation of the public through robust campaigns across traditional, social and digital media while registration of contributors will follow in subsequent months.
The Commission, he noted, remains committed to good corporate governance and high ethical standards that will ensure the success of the Micro Pension Plan. With only 8.4 million workers from private and public sectors joining the new pension scheme, out of about 80 million working class Nigerians, PenCom came up with micro pension plan to capture people in the informal sector of the economy and expand the outreach of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
Source: Leadership
