The National Pension Commission (PenCom) said a total of N25.45 billion in unremitted pension funds was recovered from defaulting employers between 2012 and 2023.
According to the commission, the substantial amount encompassed the principal contributions of N12.93 billion and penalties totaling N12.52 billion.
This was revealed in a paper delivered by the Director of Corporate Communications at PenCom, Ibrahim Buwai, when addressing finance reporters in Abuja at the weekend.
Buwai said the Pension Reforms Act, specifies penalties for late remittances, accruing interest at a rate of two per cent per month.
According to him, the near-equal distribution between recovered principal contributions and penalties underscored the comprehensive efforts to enforce compliance.
“From the inception of the recovery agents’ programmes in 2012 to December 31, 2023, the principal contributions that were recovered were about N12.9 billion while the penalty was about N12.5 billion.
“You can see that it is almost 50-50. All this is what has been recovered from employers and paid into RSAs. The good thing is that all this penalty and principal goes into the individual RSA account.
“Nobody takes a penny, not PFAs, not the Commission or any other person. All the money recovered was for RSA holders and it goes into RSA.
PenCom’s recovery efforts are not without challenges. Buwai mentioned two major issues – failing to remit pension contributions and the lack of proper schedules accompanying remittances to the pension fund custodians (PFCs), which hampers the allocation of funds to RSA holders.
