The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has disclosed that the nation’s pension fund assets has grown to N14.42 trillion as at September 2022.
The Director General, DG, Aisha Dahir- Umar, who dropped the figure at the second sensitization programme organised for Civil Society Organisations, CSOs in Abuja, said the Commission has successfully concluded the increase of the Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) requirements of PFAs from N1 billion to N5 billion.
The recapitalisation exercise, which spanned a 12-month period was concluded on 27 April 2022. As of the deadline, all PFAs had complied with the Commission’s directive to increase the Minimum Regulatory Capital (Shareholders’ Fund) from N1 billion to N5 billion.
The recapitalisation exercise Dahir-Umar expanded was to ramp up the capacity of the PFAs to manage the increasing number of registered contributors and pension fund assets.
The exercise is expected to bring about increased effectiveness and efficiency as well as improved service delivery in the industry.
Further to its regulatory and supervisory functions, the Commission has continued to issue new Guidelines, Frameworks, and Regulations while strengthening existing ones, to make for the smooth implementation of the CPS and the welfare of active employees and pensioners under the Scheme. The Commission issued the Revised Regulation on the Administration of Retirement and Terminal Benefits to ensure that pensioners receive their benefits promptly.
The key highlights of the Revised Regulation include clarifications and simplification of documentation processes, RSA consolidation before payments of retirement benefits, accrued pension benefits for private sector contributors, and additional lump sum payments.
The Revised Regulation, she noted also contains several new provisions on Pension Enhancement, Voluntary Contributions, payment under the MPP, payment of benefits of missing persons, and payment of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) benefits. Furthermore, it introduced Administrative Sanctions on PFAs who disregard the provisions of the Regulation. The sanctions are to ensure that PFAs promptly process the payment of retirement benefits to retirees.
The DG, the conference was carefully designed to reflect the stated theme, “Enhancing Informal Sector Participation in the Contributory Pension Scheme: The Roles of Civil Society Groups’.
