PenCom to address poor funding, delay in payment of pensions

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has expressed commitment to addressing issues of inadequate funding and delays in payment of accrued rights. The commission gave the assurance at a workshop organised by the commission to equip pension desk officers (PDOs) with basic knowledge of the significant modules of the retiree’s enrolment application for the 2024 online enrolment exercise, scheduled to commence on October 7, 2024.

Speaking at the workshop, held in Lagos, the Acting Director General PenCom, Omolola Oloworaran, said the commission was working diligently to address any challenges related to retirees nationwide.

According to her, updating the PDOs on the commission’s vision is an effort to improve pensioners’ challenges and requires collaboration by the key industry stakeholders to collaborate.

Speaking on the objective of the seminar, she stated that it would spotlight the challenges observed in previous enrolment exercises and educate PDOs on better procedures for the upcoming enrolment exercise for 2025 prospective retirees. She stressed that PDOs played a significant role in achieving the aims of the workshop, hence the Commission’s decision to organise an annual workshop for them.

According to her, PenCom is holding this physical workshop to provide PDOs with hands-on training that would help resolve the operational and technical challenges encountered during the enrolment process. She stated that the commission was unaware of the challenges occasionally experienced with the enrollment application due to downtimes.

“I am particularly pleased to inform you that the commission has already engaged a consultant to design and develop a new Enrolment Application that will not only address these challenges but also provide users with a more user-friendly and seamless experience during the enrolment process,” she said.

She assured the PDOs that the commission would continue to collaborate and work closely with them to ensure a successful online enrolment exercise.
Speaking also about the commission’s commitment to retirees, the Commissioner in charge of technical, Anyim Nyerere, said the commission, under the new leadership, is committed to ensuring that retirees, from both the public and private sectors, receive their retirement benefits as and when due.