BY NKECHI NAECHE-—Poised to end old age poverty and ensure all Nigeria live a better life after retirement, the Federal Government has approved the Micro Pension guidelines which is expected to attract over N3 trillion into the Pension Assets.
The National Pension Communication (PenCom)disclosed this at the 2018 Media Retreat organised by Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) for Pension Correspondents in Lagos, that the takeoff of the micro pension is billed for January 2019.
Speaking on behalf of the commission, the Head, Research & Corporate Strategy, PenCom, Dr. Farouk Aminu, said, with this approval, the commission is working on ensuring that the scheme commence in January, 2019, noting that this is a development that could enhance the growth of pension assets in the country.
He explained that the scheme is meant to capture people in the informal sector of the economy and expand the outreach of the new pension scheme.
Also, the Executive Secretary, PenOp, Ms. Susan Oranye, said though the pension funds has grown to N8.2 trillion and the number of contributors has risen to about 8 million, the huge population of 160 million shows a lot of potential exist in the pension industry.
She added that the scheme, will explore the potentials in the pension industry by persuading players in the informal sector to join the Contributory Pension Scheme(CPS) through the micro pension plan.
Dhe further said that “When more people subscribe to the plan, she said, it will increase the pension assets, hence, allowing pension fund operators to invest more funds for economic growth and development.”
Head, Corporate Communications, PenCom, Peter Aghahowa, said, the micro pension scheme is made flexible for people to easily join, while the method of contribution is decided by the contributors, who are to chose whether to contribute daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and so on.
“Anybody who is 16 years and above is eligible to join this scheme.”
He assured that the regulator and operators are jointly working on the I.T infrastructure to ensure a seamless operation of the plan.
PenCom, had earlier said, the scheme, if it finally takes off, has the potential to generate about N3 trillion to the pension assets, while it intends to mobilise about 12 million contributors within five years.
