PenCom laments states’ indifference to pension affairs

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has expressed concerns over the poor attitude of many state governments to the pension contributions of their workers.

The Commission regretted that presently, only 10 out of the 36 states of the federation have commenced the remittance of contributions into the RSAs of their employees, while eight have begun funding of their Retirement Benefit Bond Redemption Fund Accounts. The remaining 26 states are yet to commence the remittance of contributions into their workers’ RSAs or fund the accrued rights.

This means that retirees in these states have labored in vain, and have no fall backs after active service, a development that have left millions in abject state of poverty, and in extreme cases leading to their untimely deaths.

A report from PenCom clearly showed that only 10 states out of the 26 states that have enacted their Pension Reform Laws as at March 2016, are remitting deducted funds into the RSAs of their employees.

Records also indicated that 673,116 contributors, who are workers of the various state governments, are registered with different Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs).

According to the Commission, Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna, Niger, Delta, Osun, Rivers and Anambra states have commenced the remittance of contributions to six PFAs and are funding their accrued rights.

Imo State, the Commission said was yet to commence the remittance of pension contributions, but that the Imo State University was currently implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), but not yet funding its accrued rights.

Zamfara State also commenced the remittance of pension contributions of its employees to the PFAs, but has yet to fund its accrued rights.

PenCom stated that Jigawa State had transferred its pension assets to six PFAs for management, while Kano was yet to do so.